FALCONID^ ACCIPITBE 



349 



Description. Adult viale. — Above, dark slaty-black, the feathers 

 . of the nape and scapulars with concejiled white bases ; wing-quills 

 brown barred with darker brown on the inner webs, the interspaces 

 becoming white on the basal halves of the feathers ; upper tail- 

 coverts white, tail-feathers dark brown with two or three large 

 white spots on the inner webs, and slightly tipped with the same 

 colour, the outer pair with alternate bands of white and brown ; 

 ear-coverts brown, chin and throat white, slightly spotted with 

 brown ; rest of the under surface white crossed by narrow bars of 

 brown edged with rufous, bars strongest on the breast ; sides of the 

 breast and flanks strongly suffused with rufous ; under wing-coverts 

 pale fulvous spotted with brown. 



Iris orange ; biU black ; cere yellow ; legs orange ; claws black. 



Length 9'5 ; wing 5-55 ; tail 4-20 ; tarsus 1-60 ; culmen 0-65. 



The female resembles the male but is considerably larger; 

 length 12-5; wing 6-40; tarsus 1-70. 



Young birds are brown rather than slaty above, and have the 

 edges of many of the feathers rufous; below, the bars are replaced 

 by large drop-like spots of dark brown on the breast, becoming more 

 band-like on the abdomen, thighs, and under tail-coverts ; sides of 

 the breast and flanks strongly tinged with rusty rufous. 



Iris bright yellow ; bill black ; cere yellow ; tarsi and feet yellow 

 with a greenish tinge in front. 



Distribution. — The little Sparrow Hawk is generally distributed 

 over the more wooded parts of South Africa, including the southern 

 and eastern districts of Cape Colony, Natal, the Transvaal and 

 the Zambesi valley ; it has not as yet been noticed in southern 

 Rhodesia though it will probably be found there, nor is it found in 

 Great Namaqualand or Damaraland strictly speaking. North of 

 our limits it extends to Angola, Nyasaland and German and British 

 east Africa as far north as Witu, while in west Africa it is replaced 

 by a closely allied species. 



The following are the chief South African localities : Cape 

 Colony — George, Albany and Pondoland (S. A. Mus.), Knysna 

 (Victorin and JMarais), Stockenstroom (Atmore), Bast London 

 (Wood), Port St. John's (S. A. Mus) ; Natal— Near Durban (Shelley), 

 Umgoye and Echowe in Zululand (Woodward) ; Transvaal — Zout- 

 spansberg (W. Ayres), Rustenburg (T. Ayres) ; Bechuanaland — Near 

 Lake Ngami (Andersson) ; German south-west Africa — The Oka- 

 vango river (Andersson) ; Chicowa on the Zambesi (Alexander). 



Habits. — Notwithstanding its diminutive size this little Hawk is 



