FALCONID^J TINNUNCULUS 279 



These were cream coloured, thickly spotted and blotched with 

 various shades of brown, and measured about 1-7 x T3. The eggs, 

 however, vary considerably in size and markings, some being of a 

 pure cream colour almost without spots. 



^ 



509. Tinnunculus rupicoloides. Larger Kestrel. 



Falco rupicoloides, Smith, S. Afr. Quart. Jourii. i, p. 238 (1830) ; id, 

 III. Zool. S. Afr. Aves, pi. 92 (1844). 



Tinnunculus rupicoloides, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 23 (1867) ; Giirney, 

 Ibis, 1868, p. 142 ; Ayres, Ibis, 1869, p. 288 [Potchefstroom] ; 

 Gurney in Andersson's B. Damaraland, p. 19 (1872) ; id. Ibis, 

 1881, p. 465 ; Holub < Pelzeln, Om. Slid- Afr. p. 30 (1882) ; 

 Ayres, Ibis, 1885, p. 342 [Potchefstroom] ; Symojids, Ibis, 1887, 

 p. 326 [Kroonstad] ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 146 (1896) ; Marshall, 

 Ibis, 1900, p. 259 [Salisbury] ; Haagner, Ibis, 1901, pp. 16, 193 

 [Modderfontein]. 



Cerchneis rupicoloides, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. i, p. 432 (1874) ; id. ed. 

 Layard's B. S. Afr. pp. 63, 800 (1875-84) ; Barratt, Ibis, 1876, 

 p. 196 [Rustenburg] ; Gates, Matabeleland, p. 299 (1881) ; Butler, 

 Feilden, and Eeid y Zool. 1882, p. 171 [Rorke's Drift] ; Fleck, 

 Journ. Om. 1894, pp. 370, 394 [Kalahari] ; Beichenow, Vog. Afr. i, 

 p. 639 (1901). 



Description. Adult male. General colour above, pale rufous ; 

 the head and nape with narrow streaks of black, the back and wings 

 with broad bars of the same colour ; rump and upper tail- coverts 

 pale slaty-blue, subterminally barred with Slack; quills very dark 

 brown, white on the basal half of the inner web and notched with 

 rufous, on the inner feathers a row of rufous spots on the outer web 

 as well ; tail banded slaty-blue and black ; the subterminal black 

 band about twice as broad as the others, the tip white ; below pale 

 rufous, narrowly streaked on the breast, barred on the flanks with 

 very dark brown, under wing- and tail-coverts white. 



Iris pale yellow to white, eyelids yellow ; bill bluish-ash, yel- 

 lowish at the base ; cere yellow ; tarsi and feet yellow. 



Length 14-5 ; wing 11 ; tail 6-25 ; culmen 0-80 ; tarsus 2-20. 



The female is a little larger, length 15-5 ; wing 11-5. 



Distribution. The Larger Kestrel is, so far as we know, confined 

 to South Africa and has not yet been found north of the Zambesi, 

 though a closely- allied species (C. fieldi) has recently been described 

 from Somaliland. 



Our present species was first discovered by Sir A. Smith, whose 

 example was shot on the banks of the Groene river in Little 



