18 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



new, or that it was a species with which he was acquaiuted, he, in the 

 one case, described it as it appeared to him in the casual glance ; in the 

 other, from a foreign specimen. His inventions of habits, nests, and 

 eggs, (fee, are deliberate falsehoods. 



Genus HELOTARSUS, Dr. A. Smith. 

 The characters in common with Haliaetus ; but the tail is 

 exceedingly short and truncated. Tarsi short, covered with 

 small scales ; those posteriorly the largest. Toes long, the 

 basis of all covered with small scales, and the tips with trans- 

 verse ones. 



23. Helotarsus Ecaudatus. Heiotarsus Typi- 



cus, Smith ; Falco Ecaudatus, Shaw ; Terathopius 

 Ecaudatus, Less. ; Le Bateleur, Le Vail, PI. 7 and 8 ; 

 Berghaan (cock of the mountains) of the Colonists. 



Head, neck, and nearly the whole of the upper and under 

 parts of the body black ; back and tail deep-red ; lesser wing- 

 coverts rufous ; head crested and frilled ; cere deep-orange ; 

 feet crimson. Length, 2'; wing, 16^"; tail 5^". 



This eagle is very uncommon in this colony ; a single pair frequent 

 some high mountain ranges near Caledou, and I have heard of a few 

 other Bpots where it is said to exist, or once did do so. I saw several 

 along the E^st Coast of A.frica, and obtained a living specimen from 

 the Governor of> Mozambique, which lived with me upwards of two years. 

 It fed voraciously on carrion of all kinds, including fish, but never 

 molested living things — indeed, I kept him for a long time in the fowl- 

 house with the fowls, but had to turn him out, as he devoured the eggs 

 as fast as they were laid by the hens. 



T have seen a specimen from Lake N'Gami, procured by Mr. 

 Chapman ; and Mr. Atmore killed another with a stick in a wood at 

 the Kuysna. 



The Sub-Family, PALCONIN.ffi, or Falcons, 



have the bill short, the culraen curved from the base to the 

 tip, which is more or less furnished on the sides with teeth ; 

 the cere covering the nostrils, sometimes rounded, and some- 

 times long and linear ; the wings lengthened and pointed, 

 with the second and third quills generally the longest ; the 

 tail lengthened, and more or less rounded ; the feet of various 

 sizes ; and the toes usually long and slender. 



Genus FALCO, Linn. 

 Bill short, strong, with the culmen much arched from the 

 base to the tip, which is acute ; the sides compressed, the 

 lateral margins strongly toothed near the tip ; the nostrils 



