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.
F orm, &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 tooth 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 considerably
longer than the lateral toes; claws long, slender, much curved, and
pointed.
DIMENSIONS.
In ch e s. Lines.
Length from the tip of the bill to the
. base of the tail .............. 10 0
of the tail .................... 7 . 0
of the bill to the angle of the
mouth............................. 0 11
of the wings when folded...... 11 6
Male.—The colours the same as
deeper.
In ch es. Lines.
Length of the tarsus .-........................ l 10
of the outer toe................. 0 9|
of the middle to e .................. l 2
of the inner toe..................... 0 10
of the hinder toe ________..... 0 6A
those of the female, only clearer and
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 F a lco Rupicolus, so common
in the Colony, at least according to my observations; the last named is rarely observed
where Fa lc o Rupicoloides is common. Both species are in the habit of resting upon trees, but
there is a marked difference in the practice of the two; F a lc o R u p ico lu s seems to prefer rocks
to trees as a resting-place, while Fa lc o R upicoloide s never perches on rocks. Both species
build their nest on trees, and both subsist on the same kind of food.