FALCONID^] TINNUNCULUS 275 



from the Colony and once from Natal. It appears to become 

 more abundant towards the tropics, especially along the banks of 

 rivers. 



The following are the recorded localities : Cape Colony Nels- 

 poort in Beaufort West (Layard), Orange river near Upington in 

 May (Bradshaw in S. A. Mus.) ; Natal Korke's drift on the 

 Buffalo, October (Eaid) ; Transvaal Potchefstroom, May and July 

 (Ayres in S. A. Mus.) ; Portuguese east Africa Chicowa on the 

 Zambesi, January and September (Alexander), Urema river near 

 Beira, October (S. A. Mus.) ; rare in German south-west Africa 

 (Andersson). 



Habits, This Falcon is nearly always found in pairs and fre- 

 quents the tops of trees generally along river-banks, whence it 

 keeps a good look out for its prey, which usually consists of small 

 birds. It is also exceedingly fond of locusts and white ants, when 

 these are abundant. In tropical Africa it is always to be found 

 along the rivers, where there are Borassus palms, among the thick 

 leaves of which it roosts, often in company with the Guinea Pigeon, 

 with which it lives in apparent amity. 



It has not hitherto been found breeding in South Africa, but 

 Eeichenow describes the egg as somewhat rounded in shape, with 

 a yellowish ground colour spotted and blotched with rufous-brown 

 and measuring 1-6 x 1'3. 



Genus II. TINNUNCULUS. 



Type. 

 Tinnunculus, Vieill. Ois. Amer. Sept. i, p. 39 (1807)... T. sparverius. 



Bill weaker than in Falco, hooked, with a single tooth and a 

 slight festoon ; nostrils circular with a central bony tubercle some- 

 times slightly overhung but never concealed by bristles ; wings long 

 and pointed, the difference between the primaries and secondaries 

 always more than half the length of the tarsus ; tail long and slightly 

 rounded ; tarsus always longer than the middle toe, feathered in 

 front for about its upper third, the bare portion covered with 

 hexagonal scales which are larger in front ; outer and inner toes 

 about equal. 



This genus contains the Kestrels and their allies, and in this 

 work includes the birds separated by some authors under the 

 generic titles of Erythropus and Dissodectes. Under these circum- 

 stances the genus contains some thirty-three species spread all over 



