PALCONID^ PALOO 273 



(Layard), Knysna (Marais) ; Natal (Bt. Mus.) ; Rhodesia—Common 

 near Salisbury (Marshall) ; German south-west Africa— Damaira- 

 land during the rainy season (Andersson), Ovaquenyama, February, 

 and Ochimbora, 'November (Eriksson in S. A. Mus.). 



Habits. — Marshall states as follows ; — " Though I have observed 

 but few myself, the Hobby would appear to be fairly common 

 round Sahsbury, for Mr. Swynnerton has recently shot five speci- 

 mens, nearly all of which were obtained while they were hawking 

 for crepuscular insects when it was almost dark. The stomachs 

 contained beetles,, locusts, and a butterfly." Andersson also states 

 that the Hobby feeds principally on locusts and white ants. 



As the Hobby is a migrant from the European winter it is not 

 likely to be found breeding in South Africa, but in Europe it usually 

 adapts for itself the nest of some other bird such as a Crow or 

 Magpie. The eggs, three in number, are, as a rule, yellowish- 

 white closely freckled with rufous, sometimes suffused with reddish- 

 brown. 



506. Falco cuvieri. African Hobby. 



Falco cuvieri, Smith, S. Afr. Quart. Journ. i, p. 392 (1830) ; Sharpe, 

 Cat. B. M. i, p. 400 (1874) ; id. ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. p. 59 

 (1875) ; Gurney, Ibis, 1882, p. 152 ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 145 (1896) ; 

 Beichenoto, Vog. Afr. i, p. 630 (1901). 



Faloo bosschii, Schleg. Nederl. Tijdsschr. i, p. 123, pi. 5 (1863). 



Description. Adult. — Above, very dark slate, darkest on the 

 head ; a distinct rufous collar on the nape ; primary quills barred 

 with rufous on the inner web ; two centre feathers of the tail 

 unbarred, others barred on both webs with rich rufous; a stripe 

 below the eye and malar stripe black ; under surface, including the 

 cheeks and sides of the neck, rufous, very pale on the throat, 

 darker on the flanks and undfer tail-coverts ; the breast-feathers all 

 marked with narrow dark brown shaft stripes. 



Iris brown ; bill dark horny-blue, yellowish at the base of the 

 lower mandible ; cere, orbits and feet orange. 



Length 13 ; wing 9'; tail 5-25 ; culmen 0-75 ; tarsus 1-25. 



A young bird in the South African Museum is brown above, 

 with rufous edgings and tips to most of the feathers, the crown is 

 streaked with black, the ear-coverts tawny streaked with black; the 

 tail-feathers are all conspicuously barred with pale fulvous on both 

 webs; the under-surface is white with conspicuous brown streaks 

 on the breast and flanks. 



i8 VOL. III. 



