30 BIRDS OF DAMARA LAND. 



38. Accipiter polyzonoides, Smith. Many-banded Sparrow-Hawk. 



Accipiter polyzonoides, Smitli's Zool. of S. Afr. pi. 11. 



„ „ Gurney, Birds Damar., Proo. Zool. Soc. 1864, 



p. 2. 

 Melierax polyzonus, Andersson, ibid. p. 4. 

 Accipiter polyzmioides, Layard's Oat. No. 41. 

 Falco polyzonoides, Chapman's Travels in S. Afr., App. p. 391. 

 Nisus badius (part,), Finsch & Hartlaub's Vbgel Ost-Afrika's, p. 81. 



I think the adult birds of this species are rather rare 

 both in Damara and Great Namaqua Land, as I succeeded 

 in obtaining comparatively few of them ; the young birds, 

 however, are in some years very abundant. It is a 

 migratory species, arriving in Damara Land after the 

 first rains have fallen and retiring again on the approach 

 of the dry season, though a few individuals probably 

 remain throughout the year. The females are the first 

 to arrive, and are followed by the males after a consider- 

 able interval. Both sexes are much emaciated on their 

 first appearance ; during their temporary stay in Damara 

 Land they chiefly feed on white ants ; but their food also 

 includes grasshoppers, lizards, and mice. They are par- 

 tial to well and deeply wooded districts, where they seek 

 shelter amongst the foliage and are never seen to perch 

 in any very conspicuous situations. 



The base of the upper mandible is yellow, that of the 

 lower mandible bluish black, and the remainder of the 

 bill darkish ; the edges of the gape are dusky yellow, the 

 irides bright orange, the legs and toes yellow. 



[Drs. Finscli and Hartlaub, loc. cit., blend in one species 

 Accipiter badius, G-mel. (= A. dusswnieri, Temm.), of South- 

 eastern Asia and Ceylon, Accipiter sphenurus, Riipp. (= A. 

 brachydactylus, Swains.), of intertropical Africa, and Accipiter 

 polyzonoides, Smith, of Soutliern Africa ; but it appears to me 



