22 Dr. 11. B. Sharpe on Birds 



similitude of the sexes in colour, for a female bird obtained 

 by Mr. T. E. Buckley on Elira Hill is in full chestnut- and- 

 grey plumage, with the black spots on the back and breast 

 reduced in size, but the tail barred with black. 



Another female obtained near Newcastle, in Natal, by 

 Colonel E. A. Butler is similar. 



Young birds of both sexes are more fawn-coloured and 

 not so maroon as adults, while they have the head like 

 the back, and streaked with black like the hind-neck; the 

 blackish bars on the rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail are 

 broader than in adults, and the spots and streaks on 

 the back and breast are larger and coarser. These spots 

 diminish in size with age and with each successive moult, 

 gradually narrowing from arrow-shaped or bar-shaped spots 

 and streaks, which become more longitudinal and in very old 

 birds are reduced to a minimum, so that the mantle and the 

 breast are almost uniform. 



Angolan birds are darker than those from the Cape, and 

 there is also a somewhat smaller race on the Zambesi [wing 

 8'4], which extends into Nyasa-land, whence there is a 

 specimen in the British Museum [wing 88]. The wing in 

 the Deelfontein series measures 9'1 to 9*7 inches, both males 

 and females attaining the latter dimension. 



[This Kestrel is a very common resident, nesting in 

 crevices of the krantzes. It is found both on the veldt and 

 on kopjes, feeding chiefly on insects. It became very tame 

 in confinement, and we trained some individuals to hunt.] 



38. Cerchneis rupicoloides. 



Cerchneis rupicoloides (Smith) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. i. p. 432 

 (1874) ; id. ed. Layard, p. 63 (1875) ; id. Hand-1. B. i. p. 277 

 (1899) ; Reichenow, t. c. p. 639 (1901). 



a. <$. Deelfontein, May 23, 1902. Bill blue-grey, 

 black at tip ; lower mandible greyish yellow, inclining to 

 lemon-yellow; feet lemon-yellow, claws black ; cere lemon- 

 yellow ; iris silver-grey ; orbital skin lemon-yellow. 



[Not plentiful, but noticed all the year round, though 

 we did not find the nest. It is very fond of sitting on the 

 tops of the bushes in the veldt, watching for small mammals 



