IV FALCONIDAE 



^7Z 



the tail shewing five black bands ; H. infuscatus, of New Britain, 

 is a darker race. Begerhinus uncinatus, and the larger B. mega- 

 rhynclnis, found from Central America to Bolivia and Brazil, are 

 dusky slate-coloured with a white tail-bar ; B. tvilsoni, of Cuba, 

 has a yellow bill ; B. {Leptodon) cayennensis is glossy black, with 

 grey head, wing and tail-bands, and white lower surface. Immature 

 l)irds are brown, with rufous and white streaks or bars below. 



Sub-fam. 6. Falconinae. The true Falcons are remarkable for 

 a notched maxilla, while Harpagus and the crested Baza, aberrant 

 members of the group, and sometimes classed with the Kites, exhibit 

 two " teeth." B. lophotes, of India, Ceylon, and the Malay countries, 

 is greenish-black above, varied with white and chestnut on the 

 wings ; the fore-neck being white, and the breast shewing a band 

 of black above one of chestnut, which is barred with buff towards 

 the black vent. B. verreauxi, occurring from the Zambesi to 

 Xatal, is dark brownish-grey, with four black bars on the white- 

 tipped tail, and rufous bands across the white breast and under 

 wing-coverts ; B. mculo'ides, of West Africa, having the latter plain 

 rufous. The somewhat similar B. subcristata occupies North-East 

 Australia, B. rufa inhabits the Moluccas and Papuasia, B. timor- 

 laeiisis Timor-laut, B. ertjthrothorax Celebes and the Sula Islands, 

 B. magnirostris the Philippines, B. borneensis Borneo, B. leucopais 

 Palawan, B. sumatrensis Sumatra, Tenasserim, and Sikkim, B. 

 ceylonensis Ceylon and South-East India, B. madagascariensis 

 Madagascar, and B. reinivardti, with grey-barred breast, the 

 Moluccas, Timor, and Papuasia. Comparatively little is known of 

 the habits of these shy forest forms, which occasionally soar, feed 

 upon the ground on chamaeleons, grasshoppers and other insects, 

 build small nests, and lay about three whitish eggs with brown 

 markings. Harpagus diodon, of British Guiana and Brazil, is grey, 

 with brown wings and tail barred with whitish, white throat 

 with a black streak, rufous thighs and under wing -coverts. 

 H. hidentatus, extending from Panama to Brazil and Peru, has 

 chestnut under parts, H. fascia tus being hardly separable. 



Of the tiny eastern " Einch-falcons," Microliierax fringillarius, 

 inhabiting the Malay Peninsula and Great Sunda Islands, is bluish- 

 black, with rufous throat and abdomen, the breast, forehead, a stripe 

 down each side of the neck, and partial bars on the wings and tail 

 being white. It is a bold dashing species, which feeds upon insects 

 and birds even as large as quails, and lays four white eggs in holes 



