Mr. T. Ayres on the Ornithology of Transvaal. 293 
to it by Mr. Ayres :—Shot Xpril 4th^ on the rocky ranges 
near Potchefstroom; sex by dissection uncertain ; contents 
of stomachy insects and seeds of wild fruits; iris dusky; bill, 
tarsi, and feet black.^^ This bird measured, in the flesh, 
according to Mr. Ayreses note, as follows:—Total length 
8 inches, bill (from gape) tarsus wing 4f, tail 
(barely) In coloration this specimen resembles the 
female previously described; but the black portions of the 
plumage are not so dark and much less lustrous, especially 
the crown of the head and the nape of the neck, and also the 
primaries and secondaries, all of which are dark brown rather 
than black; the black centres of the white wing-coverts, and 
also the white spot near the origin of the bastard wing, are 
more conspicuous than in the last-named specimen, from 
which the present one likewise differs in the presence of a 
brownish-white mark extending from the base of the culmen 
to the eye and of a few very minute white specks just below 
the eye, also in some of the feathers of the back exhibiting 
very minute white tips and in the upper tail-coverts being 
wholly white; there is also in this specimen a considerably 
less proportion of white on the abdomen above the tibiae, the 
feathers on that part being black faintly tipped with white. 
A fourth example, shot on the same day and in the same 
locality as the preceding one, has the following memorandum 
attached to it by Mr. Ayres :— 
Female, Total length 7|, bill (from gape) 1-^^, tarsus If, 
wing 4f, tail 3|-. Iris dusky; bill, tarsi, and feet black. 
This specimen is even more brown and less black than the 
preceding one, especially on the under surface; but on the 
abdomen and tibiae the feathers have blackish centres, con¬ 
cealed by brown or whity-brown margins ; the chin is sprin¬ 
kled with small spots of a similar whity-brown tint; but 
there is no whitish line between the bill and the eye, and no 
white on the wing, the feathers of the lesser coverts being 
blackish brown with brownish-grey edgings; the upper tail- 
coverts and tail resemble those of the preceding specimen, 
except that all the rectrices, other than the two central pairs, 
are more uniformly and decidedly tipped with brown than is 
the case in the bird last described. 
