HAWKS. 79 
(Falconine). The Carrion-Hawks or Caracaras are represented by the 
three American genera Polyborus (835 & 836), Ibycter (837 & 838), 
and Milvago (889), which differ from all the other subfamilies in having 
the inner as well as the outer toes united to the middle one by a web. 
The brightly coloured naked skin of the cheeks and throat gives them 
a very Vulturine appearance, and their food consists largely of carrion 
supplemented by birds, reptiles, and frogs, etc. They are more or less 
terrestrial in their habits, their long legs enabling them to walk and run 
with ease, and their partially webbed feet assist them in traversing 
marshy ground in search of their food. They are more or less gregarious, 
often hunting in families or small parties and roosting in companies. 
The first of the Long-legged Hawks (Accipitrine) is the curious 
Banded Gymnogene (Polyboroides typicus) (840), from tropical Africa, 
which feeds almost entirely on lizards and frogs. Next come the 
Harriers (Circus), of which a good many different species are known 
and easily recognised by their long slim form and the curious facial 
ruff, which gives them a superficial resemblance to the Owls. Three 
species, the Hen-Harrier (841), Montagu’s Harrier (842), and the 
Marsh-Harrier or Moor-Buzzard (844), are found in Great Britain, but 
owing to their well-known partiality for eggs and young birds their 
numbers have been greatly diminished. All make their nest on the 
ground and lay white eggs. Other allied genera represented are the 
Harrier-Hawks (Micrastur) (846 & 847) from S. America, and the 
Black Goshawk (Geranospizias niger) (845). 
The One-banded Buzzard (Parabuteo) (849) and the Chanting Gos- 
hawk (Melierax) (850) require no special remark, but the latter is 
said to utter a mellow piping song. Of the true Goshawks (Astur), 
of which many species are known, attention may be drawn to the 
remarkable white Australian species (A. nove-hollandie) (851), the 
Common Goshawk (4. palumbarius) (857), which still occasionally 
occurs in the British Islands and is greatly valued in Falconry for the 
pursuit of hares and rabbits, ete., and its North American representative 
(A. atricapillus) (853). A somewhat different Crested Goshawk will be 
found in A. trivirgatus (860). Closely allied to these, but distinguished 
by the longer, more slender legs and feet and the very long middle toe, 
the Sparrow-Hawks (Accipiter) are represented by the common species 
(A. nisus) (866), a plentiful bird in the British Isles in spite of the 
numbers that are annually destroyed by gamekeepers and others. It 
is sometimes trained in this country to take Partridges, Quails, or 
Blackbirds, and in India and Japan is still prized by faleoners. The 
smallest member of the genus is the Little Sparrow-Hawk (A. minullus) 
(865) from South Africa, and one of the largest is Cooper’s (A. cooperi) 
(862) from temperate North America. After the rare Radiated 
(Case 46.] 
Case 47.] 
WARE Vis 
[Case 47. } 
