Fam. FALC0NID2B.
47. B aza Y er r e a u x ii, Yerreaux’s Cuckoo-Falcon.
( P late I.)
Avicida verreauxii, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 24 (1867).
The South African species of Baza is distinct from B. oucwloides
of Western Africa and may be recognised by its lighter coloration,
and paler grey breast, but more especially by the colour of the under
win er-co verts which are uniform rufous O in the West African bird.
It is only known from the eastern parts of South Africa, not
having at present been obtained out of Natal. Here, Mr. Ayres
says, “ it frequents the dense bush and is extremely shy.” Mr.
Harford sent a fine female from Natal and writes as follows: “ They
are very fond of settling on the ground. This specimen was shot in
the act of settling on an ant-hill. This morning I had the luck to
kill a pair, both of them females, at a right and left shot. Three of
them have been in the habit of passing below the house for the last
two weeks. Out of a specimen I killed the other day I took several
legs and wings of grasshoppers and man tides.” Mr. Ayres likewise
found in the stomach of one of these Hawks remains of a green
Mantis, of locusts, and of a chameleon.
The figures given in the accompanying plate represent an adult
and young bird in the British Museum, and the following descriptions
are taken from the “ Catalogue of Birds” (Yol. 1, p. 355):
Adult male. — Above dark ashy grey, somewhat shaded with
brown, crown and occipital crest dark ashy; quills brown, tipped
with whitish, externally shaded with ashy grey; under surface of
wing white for the basal, and shading into greyish white for the
apical half; primaries crossed by a few bars of brown above and
below, more indistinct on the inner ones, the secondaries with a
broad subterminal bar of dark brown; upper tail-coverts ashy grey
at base, brown at tip, appearing slightly banded; tail slaty grey
above, conspicuously tipped with white, crossed by four bars of
black, the subterminal one very broad, under surface whitish, the
basal bars more indistinct and represented on the outer feathers by
a black patch on the outer web, extending a little across to the
inner one; sides of the face, throat, and chest clear grey, breast
pure white, banded with pale rufous brown, a little broqder pn the
BAZA VERREAUXI.
Tlate I.