ACCIPITER MINULLUS. 23 
axis, 1’’ 9'’’ ; diam., 1’ 5’’.. Mr. Henry Buckley, however, possesses 
less typical eggs, which are of a dirty white colour, and measure 1°72 
inch long, and 1°44: inch broad. 
We have shot this species in the act of hovering like a Kestrel, and 
as it preys much on birds and small quadrupeds, particularly field- 
mice (Mus pwmilus), we do not so much wonder at this habit. At 
other times we have seen it glance like lightning through a copse, 
and whip off a bird from a branch in passing. It will also eat coleop- 
tera and white-ants. We saw a pair constructing a nest of sticks in 
a thick fir-tree. It was placed over an horizontal forked branch, 
cleverly supported by two large sticks across the foundation, but we 
were too early for the eggs. 
Mr. Grill, in his account of Victorin’s collection, mentions a 
Sparrow-hawk procured at the Knysna, which he refers to a variety 
of the European species. We are not aware that any further notes 
have been published on this specimen. 
In the adult bird the upper parts are brownish-blue, glossed with 
purple, chiefly on the head and neck, ear-coverts, and all the lower 
parts of the body and thighs, mottled with reddish orange and white. 
Tail above barred in shades of brown; all the feathers tipped with 
dull white ; under tail-coverts white. The plumage of the young bird 
is of a much browner tinge throughout. When folded, the wings 
reach to the middle of the tail. Iris and feet yellow, claws very long, 
slender, and curved. Female more rufous on the shoulders and back ; 
mottled on the breast. Length, 163’’; wing, 10’’; tail, 8’’. The 
male is smaller, being about 13’’ in length. 
Fig. Smith, Ill. Zool. 8. Afr. Aves, pl. 93. 
21. AccIPITER MINULLUs. Little Sparrow-Hawk. 
We have not procured this bird ourselves in South Africa, but 
Victorin shot it in the Knysna. Our esteemed correspondents, the 
Messrs. Atmore, procured a single specimen near George, and inform 
us that at one farm in Outeniqualand, three of them killed all the 
young ducks, striking them in the water-sluight. It has been found 
near Grahams Town, and like A. tachiro is a forest loving species. 
In the British Museum there is a specimen collected by Mr. T. C. 
Atmore, near Elands’ Post in S.E. Africa. Mr. Ayres has procured 
it in Natal, and Dr. Dickerson shot a specimen at Chibisa in the 
Zambesi. An unusually pale coloured adult ? from the Zambesi is 
