only two, but Mr. Atmore affirms that be bas taken from two to fire
eggs out of nests of tbis species. It occurs on tbe eastern frontier
and about tbe Berg river.
Le Vaillant states tbat tbe male sings for bours together in tbe
twilight of morning and evening, and sometimes through tbe night.
This we never noticed at NeTs Poort, where it is very abundant,
as it is throughout the Karroo. It will perch on the top of a high
tree, utter its mellow piping whistle, and fly off again. We have
sometimes heard it call while on the wing, as also has Mr. Atmore.
Upper parts and breast pearly-grey; belly white variegated by
many brownish-blue lines; shoulders light grey; rump^ white.
Larger wing-feathersblack; the tail dusky, tipped with white, and
crossed by broad white bars, except upon the two middle feathers.
Cere and legs red. Irides orange, according to Mr. Atmore dark-
brown. Length, 24" ; wing, 13" 6 '" ; tail, 12". The young bird
of the first year is brown above, the secondaries being edged with
rufous and white, upper tail-coverts pure white. Below it is white,
the throat and chest being longitudinally striped with rufous brown;
breast, belly, vent, and thighs transversely barred with broadish
rufous bars.
Mr. Ayres (Ibis, 1869, p. 219) gives the following details of tbe
soft parts of an immature male. Iris yellow; bill black at tip, yellow
at base; cere yellow; tarsi and feet red.
Fig. Levaill. Ois. dJ Afr. pi. 27.
15. M e l iera x polyzonus. . M a n y - b a n d e d Goshawk.
Only one specimen of this bird has as yet been known to occur
within our limit. Mr. Gurney thus records the circumstance “ An
adult male of this species was obtained by Mr. Andersson at Elephant's
Yley, bn November 10th, 1859, and is preserved in the
Norwich Museum. I know no other instance of this species
occurring so far south; and it is remarkable that it should have
been obtained at the same spot, and within fifteen days of the same
date as the specimen of Asturinula meridionalis.
Adult male.—Above light bluish slate colour, the sides of the face
and region of the eye a little darker; lesser wing-coverts coloured
like the back, the greater ones.rather lighter and slightly freckled externally
with white; primaries blackish, externally shaded with ashy
grey, the secondaries pale greyish, freckled with white, the inner
secondaries entirely grey, like the back, none of the quills barred;
upper tail-coverts white, crossed with numerous bars of slaty grey;
tail blackish, white at the immediate base, and at the tips, the three
outermost feathers »plainly crossed with four white bands, the next
more indistinctly, and the middle ones not at all barred; under
surface of tail whitish, the bands very distinct; lores rufescent; throat
and chest ashy grey; rest.of the body white, minutely barred with
ashy grey, scarcely less thickly on the under tail-coverts, but much
fewer on the under wing-coverts, which are therefore purer white;
cere vermilion; bill horn-black, vermilion at base; feet vermilion;
iris pale umber brown. Total length, 205 inches, culmen, L4; wing,
12'5; tail, 9; tarsus, 3'5. (Sharpe, Cat. B. p. 89.)
Adult female.—A little larger than the male. Total length, 21
inches, wing 13'4.
The immature bird resembles the young of M. eanorus.
Fig. Rüppell, Neue Wirb. taf. 15.
16. M e l ier a x gabar. Red-faced Goshawk.
Examples of the present bird from South Africa are generally
larger and more coarsely barred than those from the northern parts
of the same continent, but after comparison of a large series the
editor has been unable to separate them specifically.
It is of general distribution in the colony, though not found near
Cape Town, frequenting the wooded banks of rivers and kloofs in
mountains, preying on small birds and reptiles. Victoria procured it
in the Karroo, and we have a note from Dr. Exton, that it is found
near Kanye in the Bechuana country. Mr. Ayres has shot this
bird in the Transvaal, where, he says, it frequents the thick
bush, and on the Zambesi, the late Dr. Dickerson procured specimens
at Chibisa, while the British Museum also contains several
examples shot by Dr. Kirk at Tete during the Livingstone expedition.
Mr. Andersson observes that it is “ common in Damara and Great
amaqua Land, as well as in the Lake-region. Partially migratory
m Damara Land." Señor Anchieta has also met with the species at
Humbe on the banks of the Cunene River.
Mr. Atmore states that they whistle very much, and better than
■M. musicus. The nest is a cup made of sticks and lined with wool in
the middle of a mimosa tree. Eggs dull white, axis 1" 8 '" Diam.
c 2