THE BIRDS OF INDIA. 20/ 



8. Baza. B. lophotes. Crested Black 



Kite. 



9. Vultiu: V. cakms. Pondicherry 



Vulture. 



10. Gyps. G. bengalensis. Bengal Vulture. 



11. Neophron. N. pei'awpterus. Egyptian Vul- 



ture. 



Crested Honey Buzzard. — This bird is found all over 

 India where there are forests ; it feeds on hone}", and 

 supplements that with the insects that produce it, as well 

 as with small birds, their eggs and young. The lores are 

 thickly feathered, as well as the legs and feet, a provision 

 of Nature that must serve to almost completely protect the 

 despoiler from the attacks of the infuriated insects, whose 

 labours of months it overthrows, so to speak, in a moment. 



As the name implies, this buzzard's head is ornamented 

 with a crestj which varies in degree of development with 

 almost every individual. It flies strongly, but not very 

 rapidly, in a straight line, and nests in trees, laying two or 

 three white eggs speckled with numerous greyish red spots. 

 The general colour of the plumage is brown ; and, as usually 

 happens among birds of prey, the female is considerably 

 larger than the male, the total length of the latter being 

 23 inches, while that of the female is 25. The tail 

 measures respectively 9 and 11 inches. 



Brahmixy Kite. — This bird also is found throughout 

 India, in the neighbourhood of lakes, ponds, and cultivated 

 ground ; in Calcutta it fairly swarms in the neighbourhood 

 of the shipping, where it acts the part of scavenger in the 

 most approved manner. 



It nests in trees during the months of February and 

 March, making a nest of sticks among the branches, or 

 taking possession of one already constructed by a crow. 



