FALCONID^ BAZA 287 



like with overhanging membrane; head crested; wings moderate, 

 reaching about two-thirds of the way down the tail ; feathers of the 

 flanks very long covering the abdomen and thighs; tail square, 

 under tail-coverts long-covering the basal half of the tail-feathers ; 

 tarsus very short, feathered in front for about half its length, the 

 bare portion covered with reticulate scales. 



This genus, containing some seventeen species, is spread over 

 Africa, including Madagascar and southern Asia, extending eastwards 

 to the Solomon Isles and Australia. Only one out of four African 

 species occurs within our limits. 



514. Baza verreauxi. Cuckoo Falcon. 



Aviceda vei-reauxi, Lafy. Eev. ZooJ. 1816, p. 130; Guvnerj, Ibis, 1864, 



p. 356 [Natal] ; Layarcl, B. S. Afr. p. 24 (1867). 

 Aviceda cuculoides (noc Swains.), Ourneij, Ibis, 1859, p. 240 [Natal]. 

 Baza verreauxi, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. i, p. 354 (1874) ; id. ed. Layard's 



B. 8. Afr. p. 54, pi. i (1875) ; Shelley, Ibis, 1875, p. 66 [Durban] ; 



Gurney, Ibis, 1880, p. 463, 1886, p. 297 [Transvaal] ; Shelley, B. 



Afr. i, p. 147 (1896); Woodward Bros. Natal B.p. 156 (1899); 



Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 259 [Mashonaland] ; Woodward Bros. Ibis, 



1900, p. 519 [St. Lucia Lake] ; Beichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 619 



(1901). 



Description. Adult female. — General colour above, dark slate, 

 nearly all the feathers with concealed white bases, which show here 

 and there, especially about the shoulders ; round the back of the 

 neck a chestnut-rufous collar also somewhat concealed by the 

 covering slaty feathers ; wiog-quills like the back, with about five 

 narrow black cross bars and whitish tips and a good deal of white 

 towards the bases of the inner webs ; upper tail-coverts banded with 

 grey and black ; tail-feathers with about three alternate bands of 

 pale slaty-grey and black narrowly tipped with white ; below, chin, 

 throat and chest pale slaty-grey, lower breast, flanks and thighs 

 white, transversely barred with ochreous-brown ; abdomen and 

 under tail-coverts white ; quills and tail-feathers nearly white below, 

 with well marked cross bands. 



Iris yellow ; bill black ; cere and feet yellov*', claws black. 



Length 17 ; wing 12-0 ; tail 8-0; culmen 1-10 ; tarsus 1-35. 



The male appears to resemble the female in size and colour, but 

 is a little darker in shade. 



A young bird is sepia-brown above, the feathers, especially of 

 the wing and tail, tipped with pale rufous-brown, the tail is barred 



