280 FALCONID^ TINNUNCULUS 



Namaqualand, and it appears to be cBiefly found on the drier and 

 higher portions of the South African plateau. The following are 

 recorded localities : Cape Colony — Beaufort West (Jackson), Albany 

 div. rare (Grahamstown Mus.), Orange Eiver, near Aliwal North 

 (Whitehead), near Port NoUoth in Namaqualand (Stark) ; Natal 

 — Eorke's Drift and Ladysmith (Butler, Feilden, and Eeid) ; 

 Orange river Colony — Kroonstad rare (Symonds), Vredefort 

 Eoad Station (B. Hamilton) ; Transvaal— Potchefstroom (Ayres), 

 Eustenburg, Pretoria, and Lydenburg districts (Barratt and Oates), 

 Modderfontein near Johannesburg (Haagner) ; Bechuanaland — 

 Lake Ngami (Andersson), Linokana (Holub) ; Ehodesia — Salis- 

 bury, common (Marshall) ; German south-vyest Africa — Bare in 

 Damaraland, common towards the Orange river (Andersson). 



Habits. — This Kestrel closely resembles the previous species in 

 its habits ; it is not a timid bird and is often to be seen perched on 

 telegraph wires whence it can keep a good look out for its prey. 

 Shrews, mice, lizards, and insects of various kinds, specially 

 scorpions and locusts, form its usual food. 



This bird is no doubt a permanent resi^nt in South Africa. It 

 has been noticed nesting by several observers. Haagner found a 

 clutch of five eggs on the 15th October in the deserted nest of a 

 Secretary Bird which had been tenanted three years previously. 



Marshall observed in 1897 a pair which nested on a ledge of the 

 Cecil Hotel in Salisbury, but they failed to bring off their young as 

 they were tormented by the crows. Mr. Jackson sent Mr. Layard 

 a very large number of the eggs of this bird ; these are of a dirty- 

 white ground colour mottled and blotched with darker, but varying 

 a great deal both in markings, shape, dimensions, averaging about 

 1-65 X 1-35. 



510. Tinnunculus naumanni. Lesser Kestrel. 



Faloo naumanni, Fleisch, Sylvan, p. 173 (1818). 



Falco tinnunculoides, Tenim. Man. Ornith. i, p. 80 (1820). 



Falco cenchris, Cuv. Be'gne Anim. i, p. 322 (1829) ; Sharpe and Dresser, 



B. Europe vi, p. 125, pi. 385 (1871). 

 Tinnunculus oenchris, Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 22 (1867) ; id. Ibis, 1869, 



p. 862 ; Ourney in Andersson's B. Damaraland, p. 17 (1872) ; 



Ayres, Ibis, 1878, p. 282, 1879, p. 287, 1885, p. 842 [Potclief- 



stroom] ; Gurney, Ibis, 1881, p. 470 ; id. List D. Bds. Prey, p. 159 



(1884) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i. p. 146 (1896). 

 Cenchris naumanni, Sharpe,Cat. B. M. i, p. 485 (1874) ; id. ed. Layard' a 



B. S. Afr. pp. 64, 800 (1875) ; Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 153 



(1899) ; Beichenoiv, Vog. Afr. i, p. 644 (1901). 



