22 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



30. Hypotriorchis Tibialis. (Daud.) Faico 



Tibialis, Swain. B. of W. Af., Vol. II., p. 212 ; Le 

 Faucon a culotte noir, Le Vaill., PI. 29. 

 Top of head and thighs black-brown ; wing and tail-feathers 

 the same, edged with dull white ; back and wing-coverts 

 greyish brown, with dark stripes down each centre. Lower 

 part of body rufescent, with brown streaks. Cere of the bill 

 and legs yellow. Bill lead- colour ; claws black. Size about 

 that of the peregrine. 



Inhabits Namaqualand, according to Le Vaillant, but is extremely- 

 rare. Dr. Smith appears not to have met with it. Sundevall declares 

 that Le Vaillant has described the Indian P. Jugffur, and that it is not 

 an African species. I belieye that he had in view a specimen of F. 

 Minor. 



Genus TINNUNCULUf?, Vieillot. 

 The forms agree with those of Falco; but the tarsi are 

 more or less lengthened, strong, and covered in front with 

 large transverse hexagonal scales. Toes moderate and 

 strong. 



31. TinnunCUlUS Oenchris. (Naum.) F. Gra- 

 cilis, Lesson ; Falco Tinnunculoides, Natt. ; F. Tin- 

 nuncularias, Vieil. 



Head, shoulders, and tail ash-coloured ; back rufous ; under 

 parts vinaceous, more or less spotted with dark-brown ; 

 throat and chin white ; wing-feathers brown-black ; tail 

 tipped with white, and crossed at the end with a broad bar of 

 black; legs and cere yellow; iris yellow- brown. Length, 

 12" ; wing, 91" ; tail, 6i". 



This species appears periodically in countless thousands in the 

 Damara country, and apparently occasionally strays into the colony. 

 On one of these occasions the pair now in the Museum were obtained 

 by Mr. Cairncross, of Swellendam, in 1860. He informed me that 

 they were feeding on the locusts, and after gorging themselves, perched 

 on the summits of high trees, from which they were easily shot. Mr. 

 Sclater, to whom the pair was sent in 1860, wrote me that they were 

 the first he had seen from the South of the Equator. 



32. TinnunCUlUS RupicOlUS. Falco RupicoUs, 

 Daud. ; F. Capensis, Shaw ; Le Montagnard, Le Vail., 

 p. 35 ; Roode Valk (red hawk), Steen Valk (rock- 

 falcon) of Colonists. 



Head, back, and sides of neck dull blue-grey ; back, belly, 

 and shoulders deep rufous, with irregular black spots. Breaat 



