1 68 FALCONIFORMES 



U. anthracina, found from Arizona and Texas to northern South 

 America, has in addition a white belt across the rectrices. 



The crested HarpylicdiaMus coronatns, extending from Bolivia 

 and Brazil to Patagonia, a powerful and savage bird with a taste 

 for carrion, is chocolate-brown, with grey on tlie wing, and a tail 

 like that of the last species ; H. soliiarius, darker in colour and 

 doul)tfully distinct, reaching Mexico northwards. Jleterosjjizias 

 meridio'iudis, of northern South America to Bolivia and Paraguay, 

 is mottled with rufous, grey, and black, and has two white bands 

 on the tail. Bideogcdhis acquinoctialis, of (ruiana and Colombia, 

 is black relieved with rusty above, and reddish with black bars 

 Ijelow, the remiges being chiefly chestnut, and the tail indis- 

 tinctly barred with white. Busarcllus nigricoUis, of Guiana and 

 Brazil, is brighter chestnut with black streaks, the head being 

 IjufHsh, the lower throat, primaries, antl most of the tail black. 

 It has a harsh cry, and loves sitting on stumps near water, while 

 the rugose soles of the feet assist it to secure the fishes and 

 molluscs on which it — as w^ell as Buteogrdlvs — feeds. 



Of the forms with comparatively weaker feet, H(diastur indus, 

 the " Br<diminy Kite " or " Pondicherry Eagle," reaching from 

 the Indian Eegion to Australia and New Guinea, is chestnut with 

 darker wings, the white head, neck, and lower parts being 

 streaked with black ; H. splienurus, of the two latter countries 

 and New Caledonia, named by colonists the " Whistling Kite," is 

 ashy-brown, with rufoiis head and ochraceo\is breast striped with 

 brown. The note is shrill, the flight easy and buoyant, the food 

 composed of garl^age, small mammals, birds, lizards, frogs, crusta- 

 ceans, insects and their larvae ; while fish are secured by grasping 

 them with one foot during "-lidino; movements along the surface 

 of the water. The Australian species attacks poultry, but is of 

 great utility in devouring caterpillars during insect-plagues. The 

 nest of twigs, lined with grass, roots, hair, or green leaves, is 

 adorned with rags and the like, the two or three eggs being 

 greenish-white, rarely with rusty markings. 



Milvns ictinus, the Red Kite or Fork-tailed Glead of the Old 

 World, ranging from the Atlantic Islands — except, perhaps, the 

 Azores — through most of Europe to Palestine, Asia Minor, and 

 Northern Africa, but leaving the northerly districts in autumn, 

 is red-brown above and rusty-red beneath, the lower surface and 

 the whitish head beinu; streaked with dark brown. It is still 



