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Show 646 MR. R. B. SHARPE ON THE [Nov. 17, ashy brown, distinctly edged and tipped with white; quills dark brown, the primaries narrowly margined with sandy buff and tipped with whitish, the secondaries broadly edged with fawn-colour exactly like the wing-coverts; rump coloured like the back; upper tail-coverts dark brown, tipped and margined with fulvous, and washed with fawn-colour near the base; tail-feathers blackish, distinctly margined with sandy fawn-colour and tipped with whitish, the borders of the two centre feathers and the external one the broadest; a very distinct eyebrow white ; feathers in front of the eye blackish, with a line of white feathers under the latter; ear-coverts sandy fawn-colour, darker on the upper margin, and streaked with fulvous ; cheeks buffy white, spotted with black, and forming a moustache on each side of the throat, which is buffy white and unspotted, excepting a few blackish spots on the lower part; rest of the under surface isabelline sand-colour, the chest plainly covered with triangular spots of dark brown, some of the spots inclining to rufous; sides of the body streaked, and the flanks washed with sandy rufous; under wing-coverts ashy, with broad whitish margins, some of them washed with sandy colour; the inner lining of wing light ashy brown, inclining to pale isabelline near the base of the inner web ; " upper mandible and tip of lower one light reddish brown, rest of the lower one sienna-yellow ; legs, toes, and claws sienna-yellow, tinted with flesh-red; claws faintly shaded with light reddish brown" (Sir A. Smith). Total length 5*8 inches, culmen 0'55, wing 3*3, tail 2-4, tarsus 0-9. Adult female. Similar to the male. Total length 5*5 inches, culmen 0 6 , wing 3*25, tail 2*25, tarsus 0*9 (mus. H. B. Tristram). Hab. North-eastern districts of the Cape colony, ranging into the Transvaal. The summer plumage is different from the winter dress only in being much darker by reason of the absence of light margins to the feathers of the upper surface, which is also much more rufous; underneath the chest is washed with rufous, and the black spots are more distinct; the inner lining of the wing is also deeper and more leaden grey. Specimens examined. E mus. Brit.:-a. South Africa, lat. 54°. (Sir A. Smith), b, c. South Africa (Sir A. Smith), d, 3 ad. Transvaal, July 10th, 1873 (T. E. Buckley). E mus. R. B. S.:-a, 3 ad. Transvaal (T. Ayres). Emus. H. B. Tristram:-a, b, c, 3 ? • Transvaal (Ayres). 18. MIRAFRA N^EVIA. Alauda navia, Strickl. Contr. Orn. 1852, p. 152; Gray, Hand-1. ii. p. 118 (1870); Sharpe, Cat. Afr. B. p. 72 (1871); Giebel, Thes. Orn. p. 298 (1872). Alauda sabota, Giebel, Thes. Orn. p. 300 (1872). Megalophonus sabota, Gurney, in Anderss. B. Dam. Ld p. 195 (1872). Megalophonus ncevius, Gurney, t. c. p. 199 (1872). Adult male in summer plumage. Above sandy rufous, with dark |
