1" 31"' Le Vaillant found one white egg, and three young birds
in a nest, in a mimosa tree, built of flexible twigs and thorns, lined
with feathers. ,
All the upper parts and head grey, darker on the mantle and
occiput. Throat and breast blue-grey; belly white, barred with grey.
Large wing-feathers brown, the centre ones tipped with white.
Upper and under tail-coverts white. Upper tail-feathers clear-brown,
barred with dark-brown: lower feathers barred, black and white.
Cere and legs red. Iris, according to Mr. Atmore, bright crimson m
adult, yellow in youDg bird. Length, 14" ; wing, 8" ; tail, 7 6 .
The plumage of the immature bird is brown as in the two preceding
species, but the pure white of the upper tail coverts is con-
spicuous in all stages.
Fig. Levaill, Ois. d’Afr. pi. 33.
17. ,M, Black Goshawk. eLIERAX NIGER.
Sir Andrew Smith procured this species in South Africa, and his
specimens are still in the British Museum, but he does not state the
exact locality. In Damara Land, Mr. Andersson says “ It is rather
scarce ; I do not recollect having seen it in Great Namaqua Land,
but it is found to the north as far as the Okavango, and eastward to
the lake, though nowhere numerous.” Señor Anchieta has procured
it in Mossamedes, at Gambos and Huilla. In the Zambesi country
Dr. Dickerson found it at Magomero.
Adult male.—General colour black; tail-feathers each with three
white spots above and four below. Primary quill-feathers greyish
white, with small black and ashy-coloured spots. Total length, 1L3
inches; wing, 7T ; tarsus, P75.
Adult female.—Similar to the male, but larger. Total length 13
inches; wing, 9-1 ; tarsus, 2T5.
18. A stur tachiro. African Goshawk.
We have received specimens of the young bird from several of our
correspondents, who tell us it is not uncommon in . the forest districts;
birds in adult stages of plumage are, however, very scarce.
Victorin procured it in the Karroo and in the Knysna, where it
appears to be plentiful. It is not included in Mr. Rickard’s Bast
London lis t: but Mr. Ayres has procured it in Natal, whence we
have seen many specimens. Mr. Ortlepp writes that it is by no
means rare in the woods skirting the Orange River, and easy of approach—
fe’eding on small birds, beetles, &c. We believe it is generally
distributed over all the forest country, being essentially a tree-
loving species. It seems to be much more plentiful in the eastern
districts of South Africa, for it is pronounced to be “ common all
along the Shire Valley,” by Dr. Kirk, but Andersson states that it
is very rare in Damara Land. One specimen has been procured by
Señor Anchieta at Biballa in Mossamedes, which Professor Barbaza
du Bocage refers to A. zon<wius, but which the editor fancies must
be the true A. tachiro, as the other species (or subspecies, for it is
only a brighter and darker form of the South African bird) has never
been known to occur below Gaboon.
An adult female in Norwich Museum, from the Zambesi, is remarkably
pale and very large. Vide Ibis, 1868, p. 144.
Mr. Ayres says that this species lives entirely in the bush, especially
frequenting the neighbourhood of wooded streams, and feeds
on small birds, but he also met with remains of a frog in one specimen
and of limpets in another. Le Vaillant, who first figured the young
bird under the name of Le Tachiro, describes its eggs as white,
blotched with red and three in number. His testimony on this
point must be taken for what it is worth.
Adult.—Above uniform ashy-brown; throat whitish, finely rayed
transversely with brown; anterior part of neck, breast, and belly dull
white, regularly rayed with transverse brown, or pale rufous bars ;
vent and under tail-coverts white, with some fine transverse brown
lines; wing-feathers light brown, banded with dark brown, inner
vanes marked with white towards the quills. Tail long, beneath ash-
white, with transverse brown bands; above brown, with darker
bands; tips white; iris light yellow in a female assuming adult
dress. {Ayres). Length, 15" ; wing, 8" 3" ; tail, 7 |" .
Young.—Above brown, each feather margined with rufous, and
usually with white at the base; beneath pale Isabella colour, with
numerous large oval dark-brown blotches; thighs transversely barred.
Legs yellow. Iris, dark greenish brown. (Ayres.)
Fig. Levaill. Ois. d’Afr. pi. 24 (juv.). Rupp. Neue Wirb. taf.
18 {ad.)