134 Mr. Erust Hartert on the Mode of 



I do not know what the general impression of British 

 observers is, though in my own country my statements seemed 

 to astonish everyone, and to be contrary to the general 

 opinion. I hope, however, that British ornithologists will 

 agree with me on this subject, and I am glad to be able to 

 give two pieces of testimony ah^eady. 



My friend Mr. E. C. Stuart Baker, the keen observer of 

 Cachar, writes to me as follows, and kindly allows me to 

 publish his letter : — 



" You are undoubtedly right in what you say regarding 

 the carriage of their legs by the Raptores. I have often 

 noticed Milvus govinda and its allies hawking after ' white 

 ants/ Anyone who has the patience to watch them for a 

 short time will notice that each time an insect is seized the 

 foot is brought downward and forward, and then swings 

 back almost straight, when the insect has been delivered 

 into the bill. Again, I have seen Polioaetus plumbeus strike 

 at fishes, and having frightened it I have noticed its legs swing 

 back. The same also is the case with Spilornis cheela. A 

 pair of these birds used to haunt my bungalow and steal 

 the chickens, but so long as they confined their diet to the 

 inexpensive domestic fowl I did not interfere with them, 

 and had many opportunities of watching their movements. 

 Another pair I kept for over two years in semi-captivity. 

 I had them from the time when they were nestlings, and 

 they became so tame that they were seldom confined to their 

 aviary, and these birds most assuredly flew always with their 

 legs behind them. Perhaps, however, the easiest way of 

 finding out how birds of this oi'der carry their legs is to watch 

 them in the act of perching, in which the action of bringing 

 the legs down from behind, then forward and up, may most 

 distinctly be seen. I once kept about a dozen specimens of 

 Tinnunculus amurensis, and these in the same way made their 

 legs describe an arc before perching; however, when about 

 to strike these little Kestrels carried their legs forward and 

 extended. [This latter observation is quite riglit, but the 

 feet are brought forward by the strong Falcons and Eagles_, 



