NOTES FROM NATAL. 169 



It was raised about a foot above the level of the water, which was 

 scarcely visible through the long dense rush, though several 

 inches deep. Another nest, on the 25th September, similar to 

 the last, without sticks, and built in long dry grass on high 

 ground between two sheets of water, contained three incubated 

 eggs. The old birds hovered round me, and squealed loudly 

 when I approached the nest. Another nest, precisely similar, in 

 long dry grass by a ' vley,' 1st October, contained four incubated 

 eggs ; female sat very close, rising off the nest almost at my feet. 

 The pair of which I took the nest on the 22nd September built 

 again immediately afterwards, about ten yards from where the 

 first nest was taken, and on the 12th October I took three fresh 

 eggs from the nest, and on the 16th it contained another fresh 

 egg. On the 18th October I found two more nests, one building, 

 the other containing three incubated eggs. Eggs pale bluish 

 white, having a green membrane within." 



Aecipiter rufiventris, Smith, African Sparrowhawk. — A male 

 obtained in the Drakensberg, near Newcastle, on August 27th. 

 Soft parts as follows :— Legs, feet, and orbital skin lemon-yellow; 

 cere greenish yellow; iris bright yellow; bill plumbeous, tip 

 blackish ; claws black. Sexual organs considerably developed. 

 Other specimens were observed, but it was by no means common. 



Buteojakal (Daud.), Jackal Buzzard. — A very common bird in 

 the upper portion of the colony, but very shy and difficult to 

 obtain. Breeds in " krantzes," without any great choice of site, 

 in July. Butler notes that in a fine adult male specimen, shot 

 by him, the iris was grey-brown ; legs, feet, cere, and gape, lemon- 

 yellow ; bill horny blue, tip blackish. The crop contained four 

 or five striped field mice. He also took a nest in a bush growing 

 out of a rock on the side of a precipitous cliff, about six feet below 

 the summit, containing two fresh eggs, on July 30th; one was 

 plain white, the other faintly marked towards the large end with 

 light yellowish brown. The nest was an ordinary large stick- 

 structure, well lined with tufts of grass and green leaves. The 

 old birds were seen to stoop at a brace of Francolin, F. levaillantii, 

 in long grass close by, capturing one of them. 



Milvus cegyptiacus (Gin.), Yellow-billed Kite.— Two pairs of 

 this Kite were seen near Koike's Drift on October 3rd, 1881 (R). 



Milvus korschun (Gm.), Black Kite.— Apparently a regular 

 visitor in the summer months to the Newcastle district. It was 



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