1976 THE DIURNAL BIRDS OF PREY 



solely due to the effects of captivity, the same change showing itself in captive 

 specimens of the Accipitrines known as caracaras. The bateleur eagle is a common 

 bird in many parts of Africa, preferring mountains to plains, and generally 

 frequenting open districts rather than forests. In Abyssinia, where it is by no 

 means abundant, it has been obtained from considerable elevations in the mountains. 

 Mr. Blanford describes them " as soaring at a great height, their pointed wings and 

 extremely short tail rendering them no less conspicuous than the contrast between 

 the white under side of the wings and the black body. The flight is superb, more 

 like that of a vulture than of an eagle, as the bird sweeps along with motionless 

 wings, occasionally high up in the air, but more frequently at about one hundred 

 and fifty to two hundred feet above the ground." Awakening with the first streaks 

 of dawn, it leaves the trees on which it has roosted during the night in search of 

 food, and after hunting for some hours seeks a resting place in which to pass the 

 hottest portion of the day, issuing forth again to hunt in the evening. Levaillant 

 states that these eagles prey upon young antelopes, lambs, and sick sheep, and that 

 they will also eat carrion, while Heuglin mentions them as feeding largely upon the 

 smaller mammals. Their chief food consists, however, of various snakes and 

 lizards, of which they are said to consume a larger amount than the secretary vul- 

 ture. Snakes of all sizes, whether venomous or harmless, are attacked by the bateleur, 

 and speedily disabled by rapid blows from its powerful beak. At such times as the 

 grass jungles are on fire, the bateleur, like the other serpent-eating birds of Central 

 Africa, beats along the line of flame in order to seize the snakes and other reptiles, 

 as they creep out, sometimes dashing into the very thick of the smoke to secure its 

 prey. The nest of these birds is usually built in a tall tree, and frequently in those 

 whose boughs are thickly beset with thorns. It contains from two to four white 

 eggs. The breeding season takes place at the commencement of the hot weather, 

 when the snakes are more easily captured than when the grass is long and rank. 



The remaining members of the Aquiline subfamily in which the 

 metatarsus is partially bare have the naked portion longer than in the 

 preceding group, and either equal in length to, or longer than the third toe, exclu- 

 sive of the claw. Of the several genera thus characterized, the buzzard eagles 

 {Butastur) , which ranges from India, China, and Japan through the Malayan region 

 to New Guinea, and also occur in Northeastern Africa, differ from the rest in having 

 the oval nostrils provided with a membrane above, the others having a clean bony 

 margin to these organs. Omitting mention of three unimportant genera, severally 

 represented by a single species, we find the harrier eagles characterized by the nos- 

 trils taking the form of transverse ovals, by the feathers of the small crest being of 

 a lance-like shape, and by the elongation of the wing. The long tail is nearly even, 

 the metatarsus long and reticulate, and the short beak somewhat compressed and 

 deeply hooked at the extremity, while the toes are very short. Most of the few 

 species of this genus are confined to Africa, but the common harrier eagle (Circaetus 

 gallicus) has a much wider distribution, ranging from the countries bordering the 

 Mediterranean to India, and the small islands of Timor and Flores, and being some- 

 times found in Central Europe. They are usually met with in open plains, living 

 much on the wing, and feeding chiefly on snakes and other reptiles, and in appear- 



