62 THE FARMER'S FOES 



For years they have nested here and may often be 

 seen in the locality, although never actually on, the nest 

 (which is in a tree close by) when any one is about. 



Small as the bird is, it will attack chickens, descending 

 with an oblique swoop. It lays three eggs of a white 

 ground colour, thickly blotched with brown and purplish. 

 It is generally distributed over the more wooded portion 

 of the Sub-Continent. 



The African Sparrow-Hawk (A. rufiventris) is dark 

 slate above and chestnut below, excepting the chin, 

 throat and under tail-coverts. It is not uncommon in 

 the Albany District, and feeds chiefly on mice, insects 

 and birds, &c., and is also a destructive bird in the 

 poultry yard. This species is not uncommon in the Cape 

 and Natal, but it is scarcer in the more northern 

 territories. 



The African Goshawk (Astur tachiro) is of a dark 

 slate above and white below, narrowly barred with 

 brown. The young bird is browner above and has the 

 under parts covered with large drop-like spots of dark 

 brown. 



The nest is composed of coarse sticks, &c., placed on 

 a bough of a Kaffir plum or other forest tree. The nest 

 in the photograph was visited by us on four or five 

 occasions, and each time we found it freshly lined with 

 the leaves of the tree in which the nest was built. It 

 contained two creamy-white eggs on November 15. 



It is a forest-loving species and a great poultry thief. 



