348 FALCONID^ ACCIPITER 



tarsus long and slender, scaled as in Astur ; middle toe very long 

 without claw easily exceeding twice the ridge of the culmen 

 without cere. 



This genus is cosmopolitan, containing' according to Sharpe 

 forty-two species; ten of them are African and four South African. 1 



FIG. 120. Beak and middle toe of Accipiter rujiventris. x |. 



Key of the Species. 



A. Small, wing under 6'5 ; upper tail- coverts 



white; tail feathers with white spots 011 



the inner webs .................................... A. minullus, p. 348. 



B. Size moderate, wing from 8'0 to lO'O. 



a. Upper tail-coverts like the back ; under 



parts chestnut-rufous ........................ A. rufiventris, p. 350. 



b. Upper tail-coverts white spotted; under- 



parts white transversely banded with 



grey ................................................ A. ovampensis, p. 352. 



C. Size large, wing 11-Q to 13'0 ; black above, 



black or black and white below ............ A. melanoleucus, p. 353. 



t** 



539. Accipiter minullus. ^Little Sparrow Haiuk. 



Le Minule, Levaillant', Ois. d'Afr. i, p. 140, pi. 34 (juv.) (1799). 



Falco minullus, Daud. Traite, ii, p. 88 (1800). 



Accipiter minullus, Smith, S. A. Quart. Journ. i, p. 226 (1830) ; Gurney, 

 Ibis, 1859, p. 242 [Natal] ; Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 29 (1867) ; Gurney, 

 Ibis, 1868, p. 144 ; id. in Andersson's B. Damaraland, p. 31 (1872) ; 

 Sharpe, Cat. B. M. i, p. 140 (1874) ; Sharpe, ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. 

 pp. 23, 796 (1875-84); Shelley, Ibis, 1875, p. 65 [near Durban]; 

 Gurney, Ibis, 1875, p. 473 ; Ayres, Ibis, 1879, p. 387 [Kustenburg] ; 

 1886, p. 283 [Limpopo river] ; W. Ayres, Ibis, 1887, p. 47 [Zout- 

 spansberg] ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 152 (1896) ; Sharpe, Ibis, 1897, p. 495 

 [Zululand] ; Woodward Bros. Ibis, 1898, p. 219, id. Natal B. p. 142 

 (1899) ; Alexander, Ibis, 1900, p. 437 [Zambesi] ; Eeichenow, Vog. 

 Afr. i, p. 561 (1901). 



1 An old mounted Sparrow Hawk in the South African Museum, stated to 

 have been procured at Swellendana by Mr. W. Atmore, appears to be referable to 

 the European Accipiter nisus. 







