364 FALCONID^ MELIBBAX 



and mottled with pale rufous, rest of under surface •whitish with bars 

 of pale rufous, wings and tail white below barred with black or 

 brown. 



Distribution. — The type of this species was obtained in Angola, 

 whence it is also recorded by Bocage under the name of M. poly- 

 zonus ; it appears to replace the previously described species in 

 northern Damaraland and Mashonaland. Andersson obtained a 

 single individual at Elephant's Vlei on November 10th, 1869, and 

 Eriksson one at Ovaquenyama in Ovampoland on November 20th, 

 1890 ; the latter specimen is in the South African Museum. It has 

 been recently noticed in Mashonaland by Sowerby and Marshall, 

 where, however, it is not common. 



Beyond our limits it is found in the more inland portions of 

 German east Africa according to Eeichenow. 



547. Melierax gabar. Gahar Goshawk. 



Le Gabar, Levaill. Ois. d'Afr. i, p. 136, pi. 33 (1799). 



Falco gabar, Baud. Traite, ii, p. 87 (1800). 



Accipiter gabar, Smith, 8. A. Quart. Journ. i, p. 225 (1830). 



Mioronisus gabar, Grill, K. Vet. Akad. Handl. Stoclth. ii, no. 10, p. 48 

 (1858) [Oudtshoom] ; Reickenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 565 (1901). 



Melierax gabar, Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 30 (1867) ; Ourney, Ibis, 1868, p. 

 145 ; Ayres, Ibis, 1869, p. 288 [Transvaal] ; Gurney in Andersson' s B. 

 Damaraland, p. 28 (1872) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. i, p. 89 (1874) ; Buckley, 

 Ibis, 1874, p. 359 ; 8harpe, ed. Layard's B. 8. Afr. pp. 19, 795 (1875) ; 

 Gurney, Ibis, 1875, p. 235 ; Barratt, Ibis, 1876, p. 195 ; Gates, Mata- 

 beleland, p. 298 (1881) ; Eolub §• PeUeln, Dm. Sild-Afr. p. 34 (1882) ; 

 Ayres, Ibis, 1886, p. 283 [Limpopo river] ; Symonds, Ibis, 1887, p. 327 

 [Kroonstad] ; Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 392 [Gt. Namaqualand] ; 

 Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 151 (1896) ; Sharpe, Ibis, 1897, p. 495 [Ztduland] ; 

 Sowerby, Ibis, 1898, p. 573 [Mashonaland]; Woodiuard Bros. Natal 

 B. p. 141 (1899) ; Alexander, Ibis, 1900, p. 437 [Zambesi Valley]. 

 " Klein sperwel " of Dutch. 



Description. Adult male. — Above, slaty-grey ; primary quills 

 dark brown, cross-barred with lighter brown on the inner web and 

 white towards the base; secondaries like the back, the outer ones 

 tipped with white and cross-banded on the inner webs like the 

 primaries ; rump blackish ; upper tail-coverts white ; tail-feathers 

 brownish-black all tipped with white and with two or three cross 

 bands of grey, which become \n bite on the outer feathers; throat 

 and chest grey, lower breast, under wing-coverts, abdomen, and 



