VANELLUS LATERALIS. 
and fourth are a little shorter. Tail slightly rounded ; legs very long and 
slender, the lower half of the thigh bare ; tarsus covered in front by transverse 
plates, behind by several rows of scales ; toes rather short, the middle and 
outermost connected at the base by a rudimentary web, hinder toe extremely 
short ; immediately below the bend of the wing a short curved and pointed 
spur. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Inches. Lines. 
Length from the point of the bill to 
the tip of the tail 13 6 
of the bill from the angle of 
the mouth 1 6 
of the wings when folded ... 9 0 
of the tail 4 0 
In the female the back of the neck i 
in other respects the colors of both se 
are not quite so bright. 
Inches. Lines* 
Length of the tarsus 3 6 
the outer toe 0 1 Og 
the middle toe 1 1 
the hinder toe 0 2^ 
the carpal spur 0 5 
scarcely if at all streaked with brown ; 
es are alike, only those of the female 
This is the third African species of the genus Vanellus, with which I am acquainted, that 
has the head ornamented with membranous wattles, and the only one which has yet, I believe 
been discovered south of the Equator; the other two, Vanellus albicapillus, Vieillot,* and 
V. albiceps , Gould, + are both of Northern Africa. Our species cannot be confounded with the 
latter, though it may possibly require a little attention to distinguish it from the former. By 
reference to the flanks and femoral coverts, we are at once furnished with the diagnostic 
characters; in Vieillot’s species, those are like the other parts of the belly, white; in the 
South African species, they are of a very different hue, being a dark slate colour or even 
bluish black. Should such differences, however, not be regarded as sufficient to establish them 
as two species, numerous other peculiarities are to be readily detected on a careful examination 
of the two birds. 
Vanellus lateralis, as far as I know, has never been found to approach the southern ex- 
tremity of Africa ; it would appear to be an inhabitant of the south-east coast, and not to 
extend its range west of Port Natal. When about to cross the U’Tugale river, some fifty miles 
eastward of Port Natal, I observed two specimens feeding near to the edge of the water, both 
of which were procured after great exertions. They manifested extreme watchfulness, always 
kept upon the bare sand, and cautiously avoided approaching spots where thickets or any kind 
of cover existed from which they might be shot. During their movements to and fro, they 
carried their bodies erect and never indulged in any of those jerking motions, which we 
observed constantly practised by all the species of Pluvianus. They were discovered to have 
been feeding upon water insects, small molluscce, &c. 
* Vieillot, Gal. des Oisseaux, Plate 236. 
f Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1836, p. 4.5. 
