short and slightly graduated. Tarsi robust, anteriorly scutellated, posteriorly
entire; toes slender and rather long, the outer and middle ones united towards
base ; claws long, slender, and slightly curved.
DIMENSIONS.
Inches. Lines. Inches. Lines
Length from the point of the bill to Length of the tarsus ........... ....... 0 iH
the tip of the tail .............. 4 0 inner toe ____ ........ 0 3*
of the bill to the angle of the middle toe __ ........ 0 5
mouth................................. 0 | outer toe ........ ........ 0 3 |
of the wings when folded...... 1
of the tail ............................. 1
10J
T
hinder toe........ ........ 0 3
Female.—Colours and proportions nearly the same as those of the male.
Although this bird, the “ P in e P i n e ” of Levaillant,* is well represented in the splendid
work of that traveller, yet I have thought it desirable to reproduce it here, to enable persons
not possessed of the work referred to, and which is not generally available to naturalists in
England, to compare it with the other South African species. It has been made the type of a
form by Mr. Swainson ;*f* but as I cannot regard it otherwise than as a Drym o ica , with modifications,
suiting it for seeking its food upon the ground, I have not entitled it H em ip te ry x .
The jP in e P in e occurs in various situations in the Cape Colony, but is never found, as far as
I know, to the north of the Orange River. It occurs in districts abounding with long grass,
and seeks its food, which consists of insects, upon the ground in places so circumstanced. It
rarely perches, and when it does, it is in localities where small shrubs exist. Where neither
shrubs nor grass sufficiently strong to support it exist, it is only to be shot while on the
wing; and when it has been once or twice put to flight, it afterwards conceals itself, and cannot
again be flushed even by the greatest exertion.
* Oiseaux d’Afrique, plate 131.
t Lardner’s Cyclopaedia. (Natural History. Birds, vol. ii. page 242.) •
A ves— P late LXXIV. F io . 2. (M ale.)
D. capite supr& interscapuliisque sordide brunneis, flavo-brunneo marginatis; cervice superne dorsoque
pallide flavo-brunneis parce sordide brunneo-maculatis; remigibus griseo-brunneis, marginibus palli-
dioribus; guld guttureque flavo-albis; pectore ventreque subflavis; rectricibus albo-terminatis;
rostro pedibusque pallide rubri-flavis.
Longittjdo e rostfi apice ad basin caudae 2 unc. 7^ lin. caudee 1 unc. 9 lin.
Colour.—Top of the head and interscapulars umber-brown, variegated
with yellowish brown, from all the feathers being edged and tipped with the
latter colour; the back of the neck, the back and the shoulders clear
yellowish brown dashed with longitudinal umber-brown streaks, one streak
along the middle of each feather—the variegations few and indistinct on the
back. Tail coverts umber-brown, margined and tipped with yellowish brown.
The sides of the head and neck pale yellowish brown, the latter behind
fading into white. Primary and secondary quill coverts umber-brown along
their centre, wood-brown at edges and tips. Primary and secondary quill
feathers broccoli-brown, narrowly margined externally with dull wood-brown ;
tertiary quill feathers ; umber-brown, broadly margined and tipped with
yellowish brown. Chin and throat yellowish white; breast, belly, vent, and
feathers of legs sienna-yellow, the tint of the flanks darkest. The two middle
tail feathers broccoli-brown, broadly margined and tipped with wood-brown,
the rest of the feathers brownish red, faintly edged externally with wood-
brown and broadly tipped with white; immediately behind the white tip
there is a large blotch of umber-brown seen most distinctly on viewing the
under surface of the feathers. Bill, legs, and toes pale buff-orange, the
upper mandible deepened from a shade of brown; claws yellowish brown,
darkest at the points. Eyes reddish brown.
F orm, &c—Figure slender, bill moderately strong, triangular at base,
compressed towards point, slightly curved, the curvature of the culmen
considerable towards the point of the bill; nostrils small, situated in a
depression towards base, and edged above with membrane. Wings rounded,
and when folded reach a little beyond the base of the ta il; the third, fourth,