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Show 642 MR. R. B. SHARPE ON THE [Nov. 1 7, dusky; tarsi and feet pale dusky; iris light tawny" (Ayres). Total length 6*3 inches, culmen 0-6, wing 3*35, tail 2-6, tarsus P05. Young. Similar to the adult, but far deeper cinnamon, and everywhere barred with black wavy lines on the upper surface, the head included ; tail with a broad centre of ashy brown, followed by another subterminal line along the apical portion of the feather, this line evidently breaking up into the radiations from the shaft which are seen in the tail-feathers of the adult; ear-coverts cinnamon, thickly spotted with black; under surface of body isabelline, the throat with a few concealed brown bars, the flanks and thighs deeper rufous slightly mottled with brown barrings, the chest much deeper cinnamon, especially on the sides; the latter being slightly varied with blackish wavy lines, the centre of the chest sparsely spotted with blackish. Total length 5*8 inches, culmen 0*6, wing 3*0, tail 2-35, tarsus 1*0. Hab. The northern districts of the Cape colony, ranging into the Transvaal. This species is nearly allied to M. apiata, which it resembles in its radiated tail and peculiar mottled plumage. It is, however, not the same bird, but a distinct species, distinguished by its general cinnamon- coloured appearance and rufous head, but particularly by its red wings, the cinnamon-colour occupying the basal two thirds of both webs, and not being confined to the basal portion of the outer web, as in M. apiata. In size the two species appear to be very similar. Specimens examined. E mus. R. B. S.:-juv. Transvaal (T. Ayres). E mus. T. E. Buckley:-a, 3 ad. Orange Free State, June 5, 1873 (T. E. B.). E mus. H. B. Tristram:-a, ad. Colesberg (Arnot). b. Colesberg (Ortlepp). c. Transvaal (Ayres). 15. MIRAFRA AFRICANA. Mirafra africana, Smith, Report Exp. S. Afr. App. p. 47 (1836) ; id. 111. Zool. S. Afr. Aves, pi. lxxxviii. fig. I (1849) ; Bianc. Spec. Zool. Mosamb. fasc. xviii. p. 327 (1867). Alauda planicola, Licht. Verz. Vbg. Kafferl. p. 14 (1842, descr. nulla1); Giebel, Thes. Orn. p. 299 (1872). Megalophonus africanus, Gray, Gen. B. ii. p. 382 (1844) ; Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 213(1867). Megalophonus occidentalis, Hartl. Orn. W . Afr. p. 153 (1857); Bocage, Jorn. Lisb. ii. p. 48 (1868). Megalophonus rostratus, Hartl. Ibis, 1863, p. 327, pi. ix.; Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 212 (1867). Megalophonus planicola, Finsch & Hartl. Vog. Ostafr. p. 463 (1870); Gray, Hand-1. B. ii. p. 122 (1870); Ayres, Ibis, 1871, p. 259. Alauda africana, Sharpe, Cat. Afr. B. p. 71 (1871); Buckley, Ibis, 1874, p. 384. Adult male in summer plumage. Above light fawn-brown, all the |