170 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



seen there by Butler in March, and by Keid in October and 

 November. The latter shot a young male on October 28th. Iris 

 light brown ; bill black, yellowish at base and gape ; cere yellow ; 

 legs and toes orange. The crop contained a small frog and a 

 number of beetles. 



Elanus cceruleus (Duf.), Black-shouldered Kite.— First ob- 

 served on August 1st at Addendorf's Farm, about eight miles 

 south of Newcastle ; afterwards occasionally noted in the district. 

 Common along the road to Colenso, and also seen down to the 

 coast. Examples recorded at Richmond Road on December 10th, 

 and at Durban on August 12th (R). 



A pair apparently attempted to nest at Cochrane's Farm, close 

 to Newcastle, in October, but the nest was disturbed and nothing 

 came of it. Eggs were taken by an officer of " The Welsh" Regi- 

 ment near Ladysmith. The men of this Regiment had a young 

 bird in camp, very tame and friendly (R). 



Falco bianuicus, Teinm., South African Lanner. — Feilden 

 kept one of these grand birds alive for some time at Bennett's 

 Drift Camp, near Newcastle ; it was a female, and had been 

 winged by a shot. Butler found a nest containing young birds 

 in down in a kloof in the Drakensberg, near Newcastle, on the 

 lMth August. The nest was a good sized stick-structure, and 

 built in a small green bush on the side of a precipitous cliff, 

 within six feet of the summit, but in an inaccessible situation, on 

 account of an overhanging ledge of rock which completely covered 

 it from above. The chicks were but a few days old and covered 

 with white down. He poked two out of the nest from below with 

 a long pole, but there may have been more. The female bird 

 was shot at the nest, but the male escaped, badly wounded un- 

 fortunately. The nest looked as if it was an eyry of long standing, 

 and was probably used by the same pair of birds for years. Butler 

 noticed a Lanner on several occasions amongst the hills in the 

 vicinity of Newcastle, but it is not very common. 



Falco rujicullis, Swains., African Rufous-necked Falcon. — A 

 male shot by Reid near Koike's Drift on October 4th, one of a pair 

 frequenting a clump of mimosas on the Buffalo River ; no nest 

 to be found. The female escaped, and, when Capt. Watkins, R.E., 

 visited the place in November, had taken to herself another mate. 



Cerchneis rupicola (Daud.), South African Kestrel.— Abundant 

 throughout the colony, nesting in holes and crevices in the cliffs, 



