24. ACCIPITEE. 157 



almost obsolete, the others having a narrow marginal line of bufFy 

 white ; under surface of body fulvous, washed with rusty red on the 

 breast, and more especially on the under wing-coverts and thighs ; 

 throat paler fulvous, the black shaft-lines forming a narrow streak 

 down the centre, otherwise unspotted ; the breast broadly streaked 

 with central brown markings to the feathers, much narrower and 

 more linear on the lower breast, and disappearing on the abdomen 

 and under tail-coverts ; under wing-coverts nifous, with a few 

 narrow shaft-lines of black, the axillaries a little more distinctly 

 marked with black ; cere yellowish green ; bQl black, dusky bluish 

 at tip ; feet pale yellow ; iris light dusky brown. 



Mature. Above blackish brown, the hind neck slightly varied with 

 white ; quills brown, with rufous brown shafts, the primaries indi- 

 stinctly banded with darker brown above, under surface of wing 

 paler, white at base of inner web, freckled on the inner and barred 

 on the outer with ashy brown ; tail brown, slightly tipped with 

 whitish and crossed with five broad but indistinct bands of darker 

 brown ; under surface of body white, the sides of breast, flanks, and 

 thigh-feathers blackish brown, very slightly varied with white ; 

 under wing- and tail-coverts white, one of the former marked with 

 brown. Total length 18-2 inches, culmen 1-3, wing 11, tail 8-5, 

 tarsus 2-8. 



Adult. Everywhere deep black; the quills browner, indistinctly 

 barred with blackish above, the under surface paler, ashy brown at 

 tips, buffy white at base, the black cross bands distinctly indicated ; 

 upper tail-coverts and base of tail somewhat mottled with white ; 

 tail brown, with five distinct cross bands of blackish, under surface 

 ashy white, the bars rather distinctly indicated ; under surface of 

 body black, most of the feathers with concealed white bases or spots 

 on them ; cere yellow, with greenish tinge ; bill rich brown, base of 

 lower mandible yellow ; feet greenish yellow ; iris yeEow. Total 

 length 21 inches, culmen 1-45, wing 13*7, tail 10, tarsus 3*25. 



Hah. South Africa. W. Africa : Gold Coast, Gaboon, and Niger 

 districts. N.E. Africa : Abyssinia. Very rarely in last-mentioned 

 localities. 



a, h. $ juv. sk. S. Africa. South- African Museum. 



c. 2 ad'. St. S. Africa. Sir A. Smith [C.]. 



Type of species. 

 (I. (S ad. st. River Niger. Dr. Baikie [C.l. 



e, $ ad. sk. River Niger. Dr. Baikie [C . 



/. 2 ju^' sk. River Danger, Gaboon. H. T. Ansell, Esq. [P.]. 



