108 BIRDS or INDIA. 



Gen. Pernis, Cuvier. 



Char. — Bill rather small, gently curving from the base, the 

 tip very slightly hooked ; margin of the upper mandible almost 

 straight, or very feebly sinuated ; nostrils narrow, oblique ; the 

 lores covered ^\i\\ small scale-like feathers ; wings moderate, 4th 

 quill longest, the 2nd to the 6th sinuate internally ; tail rather 

 long, slightly rounded ; tarsi short, half plumed in front, covered 

 with small reticulated scales ; toes with transverse scales, entire 

 at the roots of the nails, elsewhere divided ; lateral toes about 

 equal, free, or barely united to the mid-toe ; nails unequal, only 

 moderately curved ; middle claw dilated internally. 



The Honey Buzzards form a very strongly-marked type, whose 

 most distinctive characters are the well-feathered lores and short 

 reticulate tarsi ; they are birds of large size, and only two species 

 are well ascertained, both from the old world. They feed on honey 

 and insects chiefly. 



57. Pernis cristata, Cuvier. 



Blyth, Cat. 82— Jerdon, Cat. IS—Horsf., Cat. 74— P. 

 Elliotti, Jameson, — Jerdon, Cat. 19 — P. maculosa. Lesson — 

 P. bharatensis, Hodgson — T. ptilorhyncus, Tem., PI. col. 4 — 

 Shakidela, H. — Madhavain Nepal — Tenu (/edda, Tel. — Tenprandu, 

 Tam. — Jen alatca, Can. — Jutalu, of the Yerklees. Malsnwan of the 

 Mharis ; all these names having reference to honey. 

 The Crested Honey Buzzard. 



Descr. — Young bird brown above, the feathers more or less 

 edged with lighter ; head and neck usually paler, sometimes rufous 

 brown, at other times whitish, with central dark streaks, more or 

 less developed ; beneath white, sometimes only faintly streaked, 

 at times with large streaks, more rarely with large oval brown 

 drops, and with or without a central dark chin stripe and two 

 lateral ones. 



In some birds, especially those from Southern India, there is 

 a well-marked occipital crest of several graduated feathers, generally 

 deep brown, or almost black. This crest is seldom more than 

 rudimental in birds from the neighbourhood of Calcutta. 



