FALCO RUPICOLOIDES. 
throat, and the thighs pale buff orange, and almost destitute of variegations. 
Legs and toes yellow with a faint greenish tint. Upper mandible livid 
green towards base, towards tip umber-brown; lower mandible yellow, 
towards base, livid-green towards tip, cere-yellow. Eyes brown. Claws a 
dark horn colour. 
Form, &c. — Figure robust; head rather small, culmen arched from the 
base ; the point of the upper mandible acute; tooth triangular, and well 
developed; the cutting edge of upper mandible posterior to tootli slightly 
waved ; cere small ; nostrils circular and open. Wings long, pointed, and 
when folded reach very nearly to the tip of the tail ; the second quill feather 
the longest, the third rather shorter, the first and fourth equal and about an 
inch shorter than the second. Tertiary and secondary quill-feathers nearly 
of equal length, and much shorter than the primaries. Tail slightly rounded. 
Tarsi and toes moderately strong, the former coated anteriorly with rather 
large umbricate scales, posteriorly with small ones ; the middle toe consi- 
derably longer than the lateral toes ; claws long, slender, much curved, and 
pointed. 
Inches. Lines. 
. 1 10 
.. 0 94 
. 1 2 
. 0 10 
• 0 G4 
Male . — The colours the same as those of the female, only clearer and 
deeper. 
Specimens of this bird have occasionally been procured in the neighbourhood of Cape Town, 
but they are only to be obtained in abundance on the west coast of the Colony, towards the 
mouth of the Orange River, and in the interior of the country to the northward of that stream. 
In the districts in which it is common it seems to take the place of Falco Rupicolus, so common 
in the Colony, at least according to my observations ; the last named is rarely observed 
where Falco Rupicoloidcs is common. Both species are in the habit of resting upon trees, but 
there is a marked difference in the practice of the two ; Falco Rupicolus seems to prefer rocks 
to trees as a resting-place, while Falco Rupicoloides never perches on rocks. Both species 
build their nest on trees, and both subsist on the same kind of food. 
Inches. 
Length from the tip of the bill to the 
base of the tail 10 
of the tail 7 
of the bill to the angle of the 
mouth 0 
of the wings when folded II 
DIMENSIONS. 
Lines. 
0 
0 
11 
Length of the tarsus. 
of the outer toe... 
of the middle toe 
of the inner toe... 
of the hinder toe 
