FALCONIDiE. 23 



rufous, with black lines. Primary wing'feathers black ; 

 secondaries blackish, crossed with irregular rufous bands. 

 Tail bluish grey, banded with black, all its feathers broadly 

 tipped with white, npxt to a broad black bar. Cere round 

 eye bright-yellow ; cere of bill and legs orange-yellow ; irides 

 brown. Length of fresh-killed male, 11" (female, 14") ; 

 wing, 10" ; tail, 7". 



This little hawk is common all over the country as far as I have 

 been. It takes the place in this colony of the Windhover of Europe, 

 which it resembles closely in all its habits ; hovering in the air over 

 small birds, mice, &c., and falling suddenly from a considerable height 

 upon its quarry. It nests in trees (or the high bushes which do duty 

 for trees in this country), and its eggs, 3 — 5, are similar in colour to 

 those cf the European birds, having a reddish-brown ground, pro- 

 fusely spotted with very dark marks of various sizes and shapes. 

 They, however, vary extremely, even to being pale cream-colour, with 

 the minutest possible spots of brown. In size they alse vary, but the 

 shape is pretty constant, being rather round. Axis, 1" 7'" ; diam. 1" 4"'. 



33. Tinnunculus Rupicoloides. (Smith.) 



Head, neck, shoulders, and scapulars pale tawny, clouded 

 with pale rufous ; head and neck with black longitudinal 

 stripes ; back, shoulders, and scapulars have broad, brown 

 transverse bars. Throat and under parts pale fawn ; breast 

 and belly striped brown ; quill- feathers brown, inner vanes 

 banded pale rufous ; tail brown, with about six white trans- 

 verse bands ; tips of feathers white. Bill bluish black ; base 

 of lower mandible yellow. Length, 16" j wing, 12"; tail, 8". 



This kestrel is very rare near the colony, but becomes more common 

 towards the Zambesi, where Mr. Chapman procured it in some 

 abundance. Mr. Andersson got it in Damaraland. 



Dr, Smith gives the West Coast of South Airica, near the Orange 

 River, and the interior to the North of that, as the chief habitat 

 of this species ; and states that, like its congener, T. Eupicolus, it 

 perches on rocks. Mr. Henry Jackson has just sent this species, with 

 its eggs, from Nel's Poort. The eggs resemble those of the preceding, 

 but are rather larger. The nest was found in a tree, and the parent 

 bird shot from it. 



The Sub-Family, MILVIN^, or Kites, 



have the bill short, weak, with the tip hooked and acute, and 

 the lateral margins sinuated ; the nostrils basal and lateral, 

 with the opening mostly in the form of an oblique slit ; the 

 wings long and pointed ; the tarsi hardly longer than the 

 hind toe, and robust ; the toes moderate, broad, and padded 

 beneath. 



