THE BLACK-WINGED FALCOK 



63 



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in mimber. Their colour is white with a greenish tinge, and they are marked witli some 

 dark-brown blotches which are gathered towards the larger end. There is only one brood 

 in the year, and when the yonng birds are first hatched, they are covered with a uniformly 

 buff-coloured downy coat. The" colour of the adult bird is variable, consisting mostly of 

 white and black, but on account of the bold manner in which their hues are contrasted, 

 is remarkably i^leasing in its effect. The back, tlie upper part of the wings, with the 

 exception of the inner webs of the 

 tertiaries, upper tail coverts and 

 rectices, are a deep purple-black, 

 the head, neck, and all other 

 parts of the plumage being pure 

 wliite. The legs and toes are blue 



with a green tinge, the cere is 

 blue, and the beak blue-black. 

 The claws are orange-brown. The 

 length of this bird averages twenty 

 inches. 



The young of this species 

 very rapidly acquire the tints of 

 the adult bird. When they put 

 off the buff downy mantle of their 

 childhood, they are provided with 

 black and white plumage which 

 bears a close resemblance to the 

 hues of the adult bird, but is 

 devoid of the glossy purple sheen 

 which is so beautiful a charac- 

 teristic in the colouring. At this 

 period of their existence, the tail 

 is hardly so deeply cleft as that 

 of the common kite of Europe. 

 By the end of the autumn, how- 

 ever, the tail assumes its pecu- 

 liarly beautiful forked form, and 

 the plumage attains its perfect 

 colouring, so that the bird of a 

 year old can hardly be distin- 

 guished from one of six or seven 



years of age. 





BL.\CK-WINGED FALCON— EftniMS metandptents. 



The small but brilliant Black- 

 winged Falcon is a native of 

 Africa, but is found in nearly all 

 the temperate portions of the Old 

 World. It has also been seen in 

 New Zealand and Java. 



It is a fierce and daring little 

 Ijird, striking so sharply with beak and claws, that even when wounded it cannot be 

 approached without considerable precaution. The food of the Black-winged Falcon con- 

 sists chiefly of gTasshoppers and various insects, from which it is thought to derive the 

 powerful musky odour which is exhaled from its body, and marks every spot on which 

 it has recently sat. It is generally to be seen perched on the extreme top of some lofty 

 tree, and while looking out for prey or engaged in active pursuit, pours forth a succession 

 of ear-piercing cries, earning thereby from several ornithologists, the sin'iiific title of 

 " vociferus." Besides insects, it also feeds upon snakes and various small reptiles, and will 

 sometimes, though but rarely, kUl small birds or mice. 



