314 FALCONID^ HELOTARSUS 



sonia sp.) about 25 feet high. The next day the nest was again 

 visited, and on climbing an adjoining tree two young birds were 

 visible stretching and sunning themselves. 



" The present year (1901) on June -29, I again made an 

 excursion to the same place but found the cabbage tree had fallen 

 down and that the birds had built in an adjoining and also most 

 inaccessible tree. However, the difficulties being overcome I found 

 it contained two eggs, hard set, which would have been hatched in 

 the course of a few days. 



"A month later on July 29, I found the birds had returned and 

 one egg was laid, and on August 3 there were two. The nest 

 was then photographed at a short distance, as owing to the sur- 

 roundings it could not be taken from far off, but the photograph (fig. 

 103) gives a good idea of its massive structure and of the enormous 

 amount of material utilised ; it measures about 5 feet across." 



The clutch evidently consists of two eggs only ; these are white 

 and somewhat rough, measuring about 3-0 x 2-25. 



Genus X. HELOTARSUS. 



Type. 

 Helotarsus, Smith, S. Afr. Quart. Journ. 1st ser. 



p. 110 (1830) H. ecaudatus. 



Bill rather short, the edge of upper mandible almost straight ; 

 nostrils, long, perpendicular ovals quite free from bristles ; front part 

 of face from the eye to the cere bare of feathers or bristles ; head 

 crested ; wings long and pointed, difference between the length of 

 the primaries and secondaries far exceeding the length of the tarsus; 

 tail excessively short, about a quarter the length of the wings, which 

 extend a long way beyond its extremity ; tarsus bare behind clothed 

 with feathers in front for about half its length ; the bare portion 

 covered with small, somewhat rounded and swollen scales throughout. 



Only one species, spread over the greater part of Africa, is now 

 generally recognised. 



' W^W^d^tXP 



525. Helotarsus ecaudatus. Bateleur. 



Le Bateleur, Levwill. Ois. d'Afr. i, p. 31, pis. 7, 8 (1799). 

 Falco ecaudatus, Daud. Traite, ii, p. 54 (1800). 

 Helotarsus typus, Smith, S. A. Quart. Journ. 1st ser. p. 110 (1830). 

 Helotarsus ecaudatus, Grill, K. Vet. Akad. Handl. Stockh. ii, no. 10. 

 p. 51 (1858) [Knysna] ; Gurney, Ibis, 1859, p. 238, 1862, p. 35 



