348 FALCONID^ ACCIPITER 



tarsus long and slender, scaled as in Astiir ; middle toe very long 

 without claw easily exceeding twice the ridge of the culmen 

 without cere. 



This genus is cosmopolitan, containing according to Sharpe 

 forty-two species; ten of them are African and four South African.^ 



sxoGSf^' 



Fig. 120. — Beak and middle toe of Accqnter rufiventris. . X \. 



Key of the Si^ecies. 



A. Small, wing under 6'5 ; upper tail-coverts 



white ; tail feathers with white spots on 



the inner webs A, minullus, p. 348. 



B. Size moderate, wing from 8"0 to lO'O. 



a. Upper tail-coverts like the back ; mider 



parts chestnut-rufous A. rufiventris, p. 350. 



b. Upper tail-coverts white spotted ; under- 



parts white transversely banded with 



gi'ey A, ovampensis, p. 352. 



C. Size large, wing 11-0 to 13'0 ; black above, 



black or black and white below A. melanoleucus, p. 353. 



539. Accipiter minullus. Little Sjxirrow Haioh. 



Le Minule, Levaillant, Ois. d'Afr. i, p. 140, pi. 34 (juv.) (1799). 



Falco minuUus, Daiicl. Traite, ii, p. 88 (1800). 



Accipiter minullus. Smith, S. A. Quart. Jour^i. i, p. 226 (1830) ; Gurneij, 

 Ibis, 1859, p. 242 [Natal] ; Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 29 (1867) ; Gurney, 

 Ibis, 1868, p. 144 ; id. in Andersson's B. Damaraland, p. 31 (1872); 

 Sharpe, Cat. B. M. i, p. 140 (1874) ; SharjJe, ed. Layard' s B. S. Afr. 

 pp. 23, 796 (1875-84) ; Shelley, Ibis, 1875, p. 65 [near Durban] ; 

 Gurney, Ibis, 1815, p. 473 ; Ayres, Ibis, 1879, p. 387 [Rustenburg] ; 

 1886, p. 283 [Limpopo river] ; W. Ayres, Ibis, 1887, p. 47 [Zout- 

 spansberg] ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 152 (1896) ; Sharpe, Ibis, 1897, p. 495 

 [Zuhiland] ; Woodtvard Bros. Ibis, 1898, p. 219, id. Natal B. p. 142 

 (1899) ; Alexander, Ibis, 1900, p. 437 [Zambesi] ; Beichenow, Vog. 

 Afr. i, p. 561 (1901). 



' Au old mounted Sparrow Hawk in the South African Museum, stated to 

 have been procured at Swellendam by Mr. W. Atmore, appears to be referable to 

 the European Accixnter nisus. 



