10 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



10. Aquila Pennata. (GmeL) Cuv., pi. c, 33 ; 



Butaetes Buteo, Less. ; Butaetes Lessonii, Smith ; Falco 

 Pennatiis, Pen. ; Le Buse Oanide, Le V., P. 18 ; A. 

 Minula, Brehm ; Gould's B. of Eur., PI. 9. 



Above brown ; the shoulder feathers margined with white ; 

 ears and space behind the base of the lower mandible 

 brown-black, under parts white ; the breast and anterior 

 part of belly streaked with brown-black ; tail nearly even, 

 black-brown, variegated with narrow, irregular, wavy bars 

 of a darker tint, and all tipt with obscure white ; legs fea- 

 thered to the toes. Length, 20"; wing, 14"; tail, 8". 



Le Vaillant found this species only in the forests of Outeniqualand, 

 perching on the summits of high trees, and shy and difficult of 

 approach. Dr. Smith cites it as from* n ear " Heeren Logemeut," in 

 Clanwilliam. The only specimen I have seen is a young bird, shot by 

 Mr. Jackson, at Nel's Poort. It is entirely of a dark-brown colour, 

 in some places inclining to black. He tells me he was attracted to it 

 by its peculiar cry, and has never seen another. 



11. Aquila SenegaUa. (Cuv.) Regne an., 1, p. 327 ; 

 Aquila Ncevioides, Cuv., ib. ; A, Choka, Smith., S. A. 

 Quarterly Journal ; Falco Eapax, Tern., PI. Col., 455 ; 

 Chok and Coo Vogel of Colonists. 



General colour rufous-brown ; tail and wing feathers dark- 

 brown ; the former tipt with rufous. Bill black ; cere and 

 toes yellow ; irides the same. Legs feathered to the toes. 

 Length, 2' 8" ; wing, 1' 11" ; tail, 12^". 



This bird seems very common at Kuruman, Colesberg, Nel's Poort, 

 Beaufort, and the Karroo generally. 



I should fancy, from the behaviour of one which I kept for some 

 time in confinement, and which is now in the Zoological Gardens, 

 Regent's Park, that it would make a good hunting eagle. Mr. A mot, 

 of Colesberg, from whom it was received, tells me it became quite as 

 tame with liim as with me. I have been informed by the Messrs. Jackson, 

 of Nel's Poort, that these birds constantly accompany persons in pursuit 

 of game, and have been seen by them to carry off wounded vaal 

 knoorhaans (Otis Vigorsii) and hares. Their depredations on the 

 flocks cause them to be killed on all occasions ; but they are still very 

 numerous in the Karroo. I found a nest, evidently inhabited by 

 young birds, in the month of January. It was a large mass of sticks 

 in the top of a high, scraggy, and to me inaccessible tree, on the 

 banks of the Dwass River, near Mr, Jackson's residence. One that I 

 killed near the same place had frogs and fish in his throat : he was 

 sitting by the river, close to the water's edge, evidently fishing. 



