i2^2 BIRDS. 



Some of tliera have very short tarsi, which are reticulated and half in- 

 vested with feathers above, like the last small tribe of Eagles (the Ela- 

 Nus, Savginy). Such are 



/'. melanoptcrus, Daud. ; Le Blue, Sav. Eg, Ois. pi. 2, f. 2; Vaill. 

 Afr. xxxvi and xxxvii; Ch. Bonap. Am. II. xi. 1. As large as a Spar- 

 rowhawk ; plumage soft and silky ; tail but slightly forked ; cinereous 

 above ; white beneath ; the small coverts of the wings blackish ; the 

 young is brown, varied with fawn colour. This bird is common 

 from Egypt to the Cape, and appears to be found in India, and even 

 in America (a). Insects are almost its only game. 



F. furcatus, L. ; The forh-tailed Kite, Catesb. iv; Wils. li. 2; 

 Vieillot, Am. 10. (The Kite of Carolina). White; wings and tail 

 black ; the two external quills of the latter very long ; larger than 

 the preceding. It attacks also reptiles*. 



Kites, properly so called, 

 Have tarsi scutellated and stronger. 



F. milvus, L. ; Milan commun, Enl. 422; Naum. -31, f. 1. (The 

 Common Kite). Fawn coloured ; quills of the wings, black ; tail, 

 red : of all the birds of Europe this remains longest and most tran- 

 quilly on the wing. It scarcely attacks any thing but reptilesf. 



Pernis, Cuv.'l 



The Honey-Buzzards, with the w^eak bill of the Kites, Jiave a very 

 peculiar character, inasmuch as the space between the eye and the bill, 

 which, in all the rest of the genus Falco, is naked, and merely furnished 

 with a few hairs, is, in these, covered with a dense plumage, the feathers 

 of which are cut like scales ; their tarsi are half feathered above, and re- 

 ticulated: their tail is equal, wings long, and their bill curved from its 

 base like all those which follow. There is but one species in Europe. 



F. apivorus ; la Bondree Commune, Enl. 420; Naum. 35, 36. 

 (The Common Honey-Buzzard). Somewhat smaller than the Buz- 

 zard; brown above; variously undulated with brown, and whitish, 

 beneath ; the head of the male ash coloured at a certain age. It 

 pursues insects, and, principally, wasps and bees. 

 There are some others in foreign countries. 



* Add the F. riocourii, Vieill. Col. S5 ;— the Irregular-tailed Kite {F. dispar, Tern.), 

 Col. 319. 



t Add the Parasite, Vaill. Afr. 22, or the Milan noir, Enl. 472. Naum. 31, £ 2; 

 Savigny, Eg. Ois. pi. iii. f. 1, is the F. ater, F. /Egyptius, and the F. Forskahlii, 

 Gmel., the F. parasiticus. Lath, and Shaw; — F. Mississipiensis, Wils. III. xxxv. 1, or 

 the Ictinie ophiophage, Vieill. Galer. pi. 17. 



N.B. The Falc. austriacus, Gmel., is the young of the Common Kite. 



X Pernis or pernes, according to Aristotle, the name of some bird of prey. 



N.B. The jF. riocourii forms the genus Nauclerus of Vigors. 



^^ (a) This is considered a mistake of the author. The bird alluded to has 

 been ascertained by Temnainck to be a distinct species, and is called by him F. dis- 

 par. — Eng. Ed. 



