308 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



Closely related to the Accipiters, but separated from them and from the goshawks 

 by their shorter toes, tubercled nostrils, and somewhat different condition of the 

 tarsal envelope, are several species grouped under the genus JVRcrastur, peculiar to 

 South America, and similar in general habits to the foregoing ; Avhile a small group 

 restricted to Africa has a typical representative in the singing-hawk or chanting falcon, 

 Melierax canorus. This bird is nearly as large as a goshawk and with somewhat sim- 

 ilar habits, being possessed of great courage, and with the power of very rapid flight, 

 often attacking birds much larger than itself. It is said to feed mainly on birds and 

 small mammals, and to have a habit of hunting quite late in the evening. The most 

 peculiar part of its history, however, relates to its voice ; for the male seems to have 

 a true song, which, according to Le Vaillant, consists of decidedly musical notes last- 

 ing for as much as a minute at a time and repeated at short intervals for hours to- 

 gether. The song is usually uttered at morning and evening, sometimes however in 

 the middle of the night, always while the bird is perched, usually on a tree in the 

 vicinity of its nest ; and although at other times a noisy and suspicious bird, the singer 

 on these occasions is said to become so absorbed in its own music as to be easily 

 approached and shot. 



A similar singing habit has been noticed in Asturinula monogrammica, a much 

 smaller African hawk, and not generally considered to be closely related to Melierax, 

 though Mr. Gurney, in communicating the above notice of its vocal powers to the 

 London Zoological Society, has called attention to the precisely similar coloration 

 of cere, bill, and feet, in the two cases, these parts being vermilion red in both 

 birds. 



Though certainly not more courageous than some species among the hawks, and 

 not better adapted perhaps for the work they do, yet the true falcons, forming the 

 sub-family Falconinse, are, by almost common consent, given the place of honor among 

 diurnal birds of prey. 



They represent among these the maximum of strength in its most compact and 

 available form. They are not large birds ; none approach the eagles in size, and some 

 are among the very smallest of Raptores, not larger than good sized sparrows ; yet 

 their organization makes them the masters of birds three times as large as themselves, 



while, from the very ease with which their wants are supplied, 

 they remain apparently inactive a large part of the time, and 

 hence often get the credit of a lazy, or at best fitful, disposition. 

 There is little of that feverish restlessness about them which is 

 so characteristic of the hawks, but in its place there is a delib- 

 erate earnestness and a stubborn perseverance which we cannot 

 fail to recognize as a higher quality than the fretful snap or 

 brilliant dash of the slender Accipiter. They are easily recog- 

 nized by their physiognomy. 



The short, strong beak has an acute hook, and the upper 

 mandible is provided near the end with a strong projecting 

 tooth > wllich shuts into a corresponding notch at the tip of the 

 lower mandible. The only approach to such a toothed bill 

 among other Accipitres is in the genus Milvago among the carrion buzzards, already 

 noticed, and in a few forms among the kites, where it never assumes the precise charac- 

 ter seen here. The legs are strong and rather short; the tarsus usually reticulate, 

 never really scutellate either before or behind ; the middle toe very long, and the claws 



