coloured like the back ; lesser and median wing-coverts, and a little patch on the outer edge of the 

 wing black, larger coverts ashy grey ; tail ashy white, the two central rectrices pale ashy grey ; entire 

 undersurface of the body, under wing-coverts, axillaries, and under tail-coverts pure white ; bill blackish 

 horn; cere yellow; iris carmine; legs and feet yellow, claws blackish. Total length about 13 inches, 

 culmen TO, wing ll - 6, tail 5-5, tarsus l - 45. 



Adult Female (Tangier) . Agrees closely with the male above described, except that the upper parts are rather 

 clearer-coloured, and it is less in size, measuring — culmen TO, wing 1015, tail 4 - 7, tarsus 1*45. 



Nestling (Potchefstroom, S. Africa). Forehead, sides of the face, and a line over the eye light yellowish 

 white, marked with brown ; lores blackish ; crown, back, and scapulars dark brown, the central portion 

 of the back and scapulars conspicuously tipped with whitish, marked with reddish brown ; quills dark 

 ashy grey, tipped with white; wing-coverts blackish brown, marked here and there with fulvous, the 

 larger and median coverts tipped with whitish and reddish brown; tail dull dark ashy grey, tipped 

 with white; underparts white, slightly marked on the sides of the throat with reddish ochre, and 

 strongly washed with warm reddish brown on the breast, some of the feathers having also dark shafts ; 

 iris yellowish ; beak blackish horn ; feet yellow, claws black. 



This elegant little Raptor is an extremely rare visitant to Europe proper, but inhabits Africa 

 from the extreme north to the Cape colony, and occurs eastward in Asia as far as India. 



It is stated to have straggled as far north in Europe as Ireland ; but I have not had an 

 opportunity of examining the specimen stated to have been shot there, and can therefore only 

 refer to the statement made by Mr. J. F. Dillon, who writes (Ibis, 1872, pp. 470-71) that he 

 possesses one which was shot at Harristown Bay, near Beauparc, by Mr. Horin, of Navan, about 

 ten years previously. According to Naumann (Vog. Deutschl. xiii. p. 135), it is said to have 

 been obtained in Belgium ; and there is no doubt of its occurrence on one occasion in Germany, 

 an adult male having been shot near Darmstadt on the 24th November 1828. It has been 

 recorded from France ; and M. Degland says (Orn. Eur. i. p. 70) that he saw a specimen which 

 had been killed at Cassel, in the Departement du Nord, in May 1830, and sent to M. Duthoit, 

 of Dunkerque; and M. Duseuil, writing to Temminck, says that it appears not unfrequently in 

 the Departement de la Cote d'Or in October, in which month M. Crespon killed an adult male 

 near Nimes. It has certainly occurred in Portugal; for the Rev. A. C. Smith writes (Ibis, 1868, 

 p. 436) that he saw a specimen in the Lisbon Museum which had been obtained in that country. 

 To Spain it comes as a very rare straggler. Mr. Howard Saunders possesses an adult male shot 

 near Seville, in April 1865; and it is mentioned by Seoane as having occurred near Granada. 

 Lord Lilford, who says that he saw Mr. Saunders's specimen in the hands of the bird-stuffer in 

 Seville a few days after it had been shot, adds that he never met with a specimen in any of the 

 museums he visited whilst in Spain, and believes it to be an extremely rare straggler. Malherbe 

 states that it is found in Sicily during passage ; but Salvadori expresses his disbelief in this 

 statement. Count von der Miihle says that it visits Greece periodically, and he obtained two 

 specimens in one day late in the month of April; and Erhardt includes it as a migrant; but 

 Lindermayer says that he never met with it whilst collecting in Greece. 1 do not find any 

 record of its occurrence in Southern Russia or in Asia Minor ; but Canon Tristram speaks of 

 it (Ibis, 1865, p. 257) as being a summer visitant to Palestine, but very scarce and shy, and adds 



