KITES AND FALCONS 199 



of much misgiving and anxiety to small chickens, 

 amongst which they work considerable havoc. Their 

 pale chocolate and grey plumage may often be seen 

 making a conspicuous contrast with the bluey- white 

 of sea-gulls as they wheel about the sterns of vessels 

 at anchor in many of the East African waters. 

 But the Kite realises his day of plenty on the 

 arrival of a swarm of locusts, into which he dives 

 from above, grabbing the large green insects, 

 tearing them to pieces, and devouring them in full 

 flight. Among falcons the small Falco minor is 

 generally distributed, as also F. ruficollis, but, so 

 far as I am aware, these are the only varieties 

 hitherto reported. His Excellency the Governor- 

 General of the Province of Mozambique (Major 

 A. Freire de Andrade) recently showed me a 

 remarkably fine young specimen of what I beheve 

 to be a most interesting, if not wholly new, species 

 of Secretary Bird, which had been obtained in the 

 southern portion of the province. This specimen 

 appeared to me to be much larger than the ordinary 

 Accipitrine, whilst possessing in some degree most 

 of the peculiarities of that variety. I was also 

 informed that the same bird is found in the Sena 

 district of the Zambezi, where, and in the neigh- 

 bouring areas, are also found Serpent Hawks, 

 two true Vultures {G-yps kolhii and Neophron 

 perenopteros), and an Osprey. 



Coming now to the GaUiformes, the mountain 

 plateaux in certain districts abound in quails, I 

 think the Coturnix, as also a very fine partridge, 

 similar to but rather larger than the English bird. 

 Of the latter there is also a somewhat smaller variety, 



