. The birds of South Africa. Birds. FALCONID^ ACCIPITER 351 surface a good deal darker. Length ; wing 9-25; tail 7-20; tarsus 2-3. A young bird is dark brown above, most of the feathers edged with a narrow band of rufous ; the white tip to the tail is much less marked; below, the feathers of the chin and chest have dark brown shaft stripes ; the breast, abdomen and flanks show strong traces of brown transverse cross bars, covered over and obliterated by the gradually spreading rufous colouring of the adult. Distribution.—The African Sparrow Hawk is not uncommon in the neighbourhood of Cape
. The birds of South Africa. Birds. FALCONID^ ACCIPITER 351 surface a good deal darker. Length ; wing 9-25; tail 7-20; tarsus 2-3. A young bird is dark brown above, most of the feathers edged with a narrow band of rufous ; the white tip to the tail is much less marked; below, the feathers of the chin and chest have dark brown shaft stripes ; the breast, abdomen and flanks show strong traces of brown transverse cross bars, covered over and obliterated by the gradually spreading rufous colouring of the adult. Distribution.—The African Sparrow Hawk is not uncommon in the neighbourhood of Cape Town, whence it extends over the greater part of the Colony and Natal. From the Transvaal it has only been recorded from near Lydenburg by Ayres ; in Damaraland and Great Namaqualand it is stated by Andersson to have rarely come under his notice. Its range in South Africa is, therefore, somewhat. Pig. 121.—Accipiter rufiventris. x \. limited. Beyond our region it is not known from Angola, Nyasa- land, or east Africa, but has been obtained in Abyssinia by Harris, Eiippell, and Heuglih, and from the interior of Togoland in west Africa by Biittner. South African localities are: Cape Colony—Cape div. and Swellendam (S. A. Mus.), Knysna (Victorin and Marais), Baviaans river vaUey in Bedford (Smith), Albany not uncommon (Grahams- town Mus.); Natal—Near Howick (S. A. Mus.), and Newcastle (Butler); Transvaal—Lydenburg (Ayres). Habits.—Little has been recorded regarding the habits of this hawk; Layard states that it sometimes hovers like a kestrel when on the look-out for mice or other ground-animals, at other times he has seen it glance like hghtning through a copse and in passing whip off a small bird perched on a branch. It also feeds on white. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Stark, Ar
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherl, booksubjectbirds
