FALCONID^ TINNUNCULUS 279 



These were cream coloured, thickly spotted and blotched with 

 various shades of brown, and measured about 1-7 x 1'3. The eggs, 

 however, vary considerably in size and markings, some being of a 

 pure cream colour almost without spots. 



509. Tinnunculus rupicoloides. Larger Kestrel. 



Falco rupicoloides, Smith, 8. Afr. Quart. Journ. i, p. 238 (1830) ; id, 

 III. Zool. S. Afr. Aves, pi. 92 (1844). 



Tinnunculus rupicoloides, Laijard, B. S. Afr. p. 23 (1867) ; Gurney, 

 Ibis, 1868, p. 142 ; Ayres, Ibis, 1869, p. 288 [Potchefstroom] ; 

 Gurney in Andersson's B. Damaraland, p. 19 (1872) ; id. Ibis, 

 1881, p. 465 ; Holub d Pelzeln, Orn. Sild-Afr. p. 30 (1882) ; 

 Ayres, Ibis, 1885, p. 342 [Potchefstroom] ; Symonds, Ibis, 1887, 

 p. 326 [Kroonstad] ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 146 (1896) ; Marshall, 

 Ibis, 1900, p. 259 [Salisbury] ; Haagner, Ibis, 1901, pp. 16, 193 

 [Modderf ontein] . 



Cerchneis rupicoloides, SharjJe, Cat. B. M. i, p. 432 (1874) ; id. ed. 

 Layard's B. S. Afr. pp. 63, 800 (1875-84) ; Barratt, Ibis, 1876, 

 p. 196 [Kustenburg] ; Oates, Matabeleland, p. 299 (1881) ; Butler, 

 Feilden, and Beid, Zool. 1882, p. 171 [Rorke's Drift] ; Fleck, 

 Journ. Orn. 1894, pp. 370, 394 [Kalahari] ; Beichenoiv, Vog. Afr. i, 

 p. 639 (1901). 



Description. Adult male. — General colour above, pale rufous ; 

 the head and nape with narrow streaks of black, the back and wings 

 with broad bars of the same colour ; rump and upper tail-coverts 

 pale slaty-blue, subterminally barred with black ; quills very dark 

 brown, white on the basal half of the inner web and notched with 

 rufous, on the inner feathers a row of rufous spots on the outer web 

 as well ; tail banded slaty-blue and black ; the subterminal black 

 band about twice as broad as the others, the tip white ; below pale 

 rufous, narrowly streaked on the breast, barred on the flanks with 

 very dark brown, under wing- and tail-coverts white. 



Iris pale yellow to white, eyelids yellow ; bill bluish-ash, yel- 

 lowish at the base ; cere yellow ; tarsi and feet yellow. 



Length 14-5 ; wing 11 ; tail 6-25 ; culmen 0-80 ; tarsus 2-20. 



The female is a little larger, length 15-5 ; wing 11-5. 



Distribution. — The Larger Kestrel is, so far as we know, confined 

 to South Africa and has not yet been found north of the Zambesi, 

 though a closely- allied species [G. fieldi) has recently been described 

 from Somaliland. 



Our present species was first discovered by Sir A. Smith, whose 

 example was shot on the banks of the Groene river in Little 



