of the tail; the third and fourth quill-feathers equal and longest. Tail long
and slightly round at the point. Tarsi long and rather slender.
DIMENSIONS.
inches. Lanes. Inches. Tunfis
Length from the point of the bill to Length of the tarsus................ 2 6
the tip of the tail 19 0 of the middle toe........ ........ I 2
Length of the hill from the gape...... 1 0 of the outer toe.......... ....... 0 9,4
of the wings when folded..... 13 0 . of the inner to e....... . ........ 0 84
of the tail ......................... 9 6 of the hinder toe........ ........ 0 6
{Middle Aged Male.—Plate XLIII. Fig 2.)
CoLOUE^i-Aboye, a part of the plumage is purplish brown and a part dark
silvery grey, the latter most advanced upon the shoulders and anterior
parts of the wings. Chin, throat, and breast greyish white, variegated
with large rusty brown stripes, one along the middle of each feather;
belly, flanks, thighs, vent, and under tail-coverts white, with a number of
longitudinal stripes of a colour intermediate between tile and hyacinth-red ;
upper tail-coverts white, clouded with grey towards the point.'
( Y o u n g T hm a feB -P la te X I. 1V
Cor.OCR.- - The top of the head, cheeks, ear-coverts, upper surface of
the neck, interscapulars, back, scapulars, and lesser wing-coverts purplish
brown with a satin lustre, the feathers of the top of the head and the lesser
wing-coverts tipped with pale buff-orange, those of the back with reddish
orange. The primary and secondary wing-coverts and the quill-feathers
umber-brown with a purple shade ; the primary wing-coverts are tipped with
white, and the first half of the inner vanes of the primary quill-feathers are
white barred with dark-brown, the outer vanes strongly tinted with grey; the
quill-feathers narrowly tipped with dirty white. The four middle tail-feathers
barred alternately with purplish brown and greyish brown, the bars of the
latter colours clouded with buff or white shades; the lateral feathers dirty
white with three or four rusty brown bars; the tips of all bright sienna yellow.
Eye-brows, space under eye, and the rump white; cervical collar, throat, and
all the under parts intermediate between sienna-yellow and Dutch-orange;
several of the feathers of cervical collar towards its upper extremities brown
near centre, and several of those of the breast and belly the same colour
near their shaft.
This bird has a wide range in South Africa, and I have myself seen specimens *6f it, though
sparingly, in the neighbourhood of Cape Town, and also near Port Natal, the mouth of the
Orange River, and the Tropic of Capricorn. Like its congeners it flies low, often almost
touching the surface of the ground, and generally in a straight line, rather than in circles. Its
C IR C U S SWAINSONII. (young'.!
(AydsSiEllafe