THE BIRDS OF LIBERIA 657 
Gypohierax angolensis (Gmelin). Vulturine Sea-eagle 
Falco angolensis Gmelin, Linné’s Syst. Nat., ed. 13, vol. 1, pt. 1, p. 252, 1788: Angola. 
A large hawk with secondaries, tail except tip, and the scapulars black; plumage elsewhere 
white. Naked skin around the eye flesh-color. West Africa, Gambia to Angola. 
This is a conspicuous and well-distributed species in Liberia, haunting the 
streams and more open places, perching on large dead trees, or visiting the palm 
groves for the nuts of the oil palm. At times they are quite unsuspicious and 
allow one to walk past within a few yards. Biittikofer remarks that they feed 
on fish and oil-palm nuts; one we shot at Kakatown had in its stomach, among 
other unidentified material, the remains of a large locust. 
Buteo auguralis Salvadori. Red-necked Buzzard 
Buteo auguralis Salvadori, Atti Soc. Ital. Milano, vol. 8, p. 377, 1865: Abyssinia and Libyan desert’ 
Length about 19 inches; slaty gray above with white bases to the feathers; sides of head chest- 
nut brown; throat white streaked with blackish; breast slaty washed with chestnut; rest of under 
parts white, with black spots on belly; upper tail-coverts reddish with dark cross-bands, tail reddish 
brown with narrow subterminal bar of black. Sudan and Abyssinia to the west coast, Angola and 
Gaboon. 
The only record of this bird in Liberia is that of Bannerman (1912), who 
states that Lowe secured two in Sierra Leone and saw a pair at Nana Kru, on 
the southern coast of Liberia. He found them more common on the Gold Coast. 
Accipiter hartlaubi hartlaubi (Verreaux). Hartlaub’s Sparrow-hawk 
Nisus hartlaubi Verreaux, in Hartlaub, Syst. Ornith. West Afr., p. 14, 1857: Portuguese Guinea. 
Size of a Sharp-shin, blue-black above, longest upper tail-coverts white, outer tail-feather with 
several, inner feathers with three white bars, central pair black; throat and under tail-coverts 
white; breast, belly, and thighs gray, sides washed with chestnut. Feet, eye-ring, and cere orange. 
West Africa, Gambia to Togoland. 
This beautiful little hawk was described by Sharpe (1888) as Accipiter 
biittikofert on the basis of Buttikofer’s Liberian specimens, but it was later found 
that an earlier name was available. It is a forest-haunter occasionally met with 
throughout the country. Biuttikofer and Stampfli secured specimens from 
Soforé Place, Du River, Schieffelinsville and Mt. Olive and we procured it at 
Kakatown and near Boporo, where a female was shot high in a forest tree at an 
early hour. Its stomach was empty. The ovaries were well developed and one 
yolk was almost of full size on October 30. Kemp (1905) has recorded a female 
about ready to lay eggs, on May 5 at Bo, Sierra Leone, nearly a hundred miles 
east of the northeast boundary of Liberia, so that the breeding period may 
extend over a large part of the year. 
Astur tachiro macroscelides Hartlaub. West African Goshawk 
Astur macroscelides Hartlaub, Journ. f. Ornith., vol. 3, p. 354, 1855: Gold Coast. 
Length about 18 inches; above dark slaty, grayer on neck, tinged with brownish on wings; 
middle tail-feathers with three white spots on inner vanes marking the quarters of its length. 
Throat gray, breast, belly, and thighs chestnut, the body barred with white. Cere, feet, and iris 
yellow. 
A not uncommon hawk of open parts of the forest. A male taken in the forest 
near the Du River, July 24, had insects in its stomach. Biittikofer secured a 
