MELIERAX CANORUS. . ai 
and axillaries uniform buffy white, the latter with a narrow longi- 
tudinal shaft-line of brown; cere greenish yellow; bill blackish ; 
feet yellow; claws black; iris straw-yellow in adult male; dark 
yellowish-brown in female and immature male. Total length 22-5 
inches ; culmen 1°55; wing 16; tail 10; tarsus 3:4. (Sharpe, Cat. 
B. i. p. 69.) 
Adult female.—Slightly larger than male. Total length 23 inches ; 
wing 17; tail 11; tarsus 3°8. 
Fig. Gould, B. Great Brit. pt, xii. 
14, MBuLinrax CANORUS. Chanting Goshawk. 
Melicrax musicus, Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 31 (1867). 
This is also aspecies whose range is at present confined within the 
limits of this work. It is generally distributed over the colony, being 
very abundant in the Karroo, but it does not occur in the Knysna 
according to Victorin, nor have we received any notice from Mr. 
Rickard of its capture near Hast London or the adjacent parts. Mr. 
Atmore’s recent collections near Hland’s Post did not embrace an 
example. Writing in 1868 Mr. Gurney observes:—* The geo- 
graphical range of this strictly southern bird is singularly limited. 
I have never seen it from any locality north of the Tropic of Capri- 
corn. Mr. Ayres has not met with this species in Natal, but ho 
obtained it in the bush country on the Limpopo River, where it is 
very numerous.” Neither Dr. Kirk nor the late Dr. Dickerson 
appear to have met with the species in the Zambesi district, and it 
is doubtless replaced along the Hastern coast of Africa by M. poliop- 
terus of Cabanis. 
Mr. Andersson says that it is ‘common in Damara and Great 
Namaqua Land, where it is seen throughout the year: it is par- 
ticularly abundant about Walvisch Bay, and is usually found in open 
country.” Senor Anchieta has likewise procured it at Caconda in 
the Mossamedes district. 
It devours quails, partridges, and other small game, reptiles, and 
locusts ; builds either in the fork of a tree or a thick bush. The eggs 
are four, oval, and white: axis, 2’’ 4’’; diam., 1’ 9’’’.. Mr. Henry 
Buckley informs us that examples in his collection vary from 2°03 x 
1:7 inches, to 2°15 x 1°6 and are of a blueish white colour. Mr. H. 
Jackson says they never lay more than three eggs and generally 
c 
