312 PALCONID^. 



Cerchneis mpicoloides (Smith). 

 (Plate XV. fig. 7.) 



Tinnunculus rupicoloides, Ayres, Ibis, 1869, p. 288 ; Haayner, Ibis, 1901, 



p. 16. 

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



Layard, Birds S. Africa, p. 63 (1875-84) ; id. Hand-l. i. p. 277 



(1899) ; Nehrk. Kat. JEiersamml. p. 10 (1899). 



The eggs of the Great African Kestrel are of a broad oval or 

 elliptical form, smooth, and with scarcely any gloss. In the majority 

 the ground is cream-colour, and this is thickly freckled, dotted, and 

 blotched with yellowish brown or different shades of reddish brown. 

 Some specimens have a pale red ground, smeared and blotched with 

 darker red. The eggs measure from 1*6 to 1-8 in length, and from 

 1-3 to 1-4 in breadth. 



2. S. Africa. E. L. Layard, Esq. [P.]. 



3. Transvaal (T. Ayres). Crowley Bequest. 

 3. Potchefstroom, Transvaal (T. A.). Seebohm Coll. 



1. Griqualand (T. C. Atmore). Crowley Bequest. 



1. Natal (Field Coll.). Crowley Bequest. 



Cerchneis newtoni (Gurney). 



Falco gracilis, Rock $ E. Newt. Ibis, 1862, p. 267. 



Cerchneis newtoni, Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. M. i. p. 433 (1874) ; id. Hand-l. 



i. p. 277 (1899) ; Nehrk. Kat. JEiersamml. p. 10 (1899). 

 Tiununculus newtonii, Milne-Edwards fy Grandidier, Hist. Nat. Madaa., 



Ois. i. p. 43, pi. 301. figs. 3, 3 a, 3 b (1879) ; Cowan, Proc. Roy. Ph'ys. 



Soc. Edinb. vii. p. 148 (1882). 



The eggs of Newton's Kestrel vary from a long narrow oval to a 

 spheroidal shape, and they show no gloss. They are very variable 

 in their coloration. One specimen in the series, for instance, is 

 uniform deep brownish red, speckled with black ; another is buff, 

 minutely speckled with dark brown ; several examples are blotched 

 with two shades of reddish brown ; others, again, have a rich 

 reddish-buff ground, profusely marked with reddish brown and 

 purplish brown ; and one has a deep reddish-brown cap at the large 

 end and no markings elsewhere. A series measures from 1-3 to 

 1-55 in length, and from 1-08 to 1-2 in breadth. 



16. Betsileo, Madagascar. Rev. W. Deans Cowan [C.]. 



6. Madagascar. Crowley Bequest. 



2. Madagascar (E. Newton : Tristram Crowley Bequest. 

 Coll.). 



Cerchneis naumanni (Fleisch.). 



Falco cenchris, Thien. Fortpjlanz. ges. Vog. tab. lii. fig. 3, a-d (1845-54) ; 

 Simpson, Ibis, 1860, p. 380 ; Kriiper, J. f. O. 1869, p. 25; Dresser, 

 Birds Eur. vi. p. 125(1871); Seebohm, Brit. Birds, i. p. 51, pi. 4 

 (1883) ; id. Eggs of Brit. Birds, p. 8, pi. 4. figs. 2 & 3 (1896) ; Irby, 

 Orn. Sir. Gibr. 2nd ed. p. 196 (1895). 



Cerchneis cenchris, Baedeker, Eier. Eur. Vog. tab. 10. fig. 4 (1855-63). 



