Birds. 283 



white. Wing feathers brown with transverse black bands, 

 inner vanes towards quills white ; insides of shoulders white, 

 barred with black. Tail brown above, ashy white beneath, 

 and both surf aces marked with eight narrow brown-black trans- 

 verse bands. Length thirteen inches and a half. 

 Inhabits Madagascar. 



SUB-FAM. MILVINA. 



Bill moderate, curved from the base ; cere naked ; nostrils 

 oblique, oval, or ellipitical ; tarsi short, slender ; toes weak ; 

 wings very long ; tail slightly or deeply forked or graduated, 

 and composed of twelve feathers. 



Genus MILVUS. Cuvier. 



Bill moderately robust ; nostrils elliptical, oblique ; tarsi short, 

 slender, and scutellated; fourth quill feather the longest. Tail 

 deltoidal forked or graduated; claws robust. 



Milvus parasiticus. Bill and cere yellow ; eyes dark brown ; 

 head and neck pale tawny, each feather with a longitudinal 

 blackish brown streak which includes the shaft; interscapulars, 

 back, tail coverts, and shoulders, brown, the feathers tipt with 

 a lighter tint ; chin and throat streaked longitudinally with 

 brown and dirty white; breast and belly dirty dull rufous, with 

 a narrow stripe of black along the centre of each feather; 

 under tail coverts and thighs rufous ; primary and secondary 

 wing coverts blackish brown, with light tips. Primary wing 

 feathers black, mottled slightly with white on inner vanes to- 

 wards quills ; secondaries brown, with the inner vanes crossed 

 by indistinct dusky bands. Tail slightly forked, reddish brown, 

 with eight or nine narrow blackish transverse bands, and the 

 tips of all the feathers reddish white ; legs and toes yellow ; 

 claws black. Length twenty inches. 



Young. Bill black ; colour above dark brown, the feathers 

 tipt with tawny white or pale rufous ; beneath brown, feathers 

 tawny white towards tips, shafts black ; under tail coverts sub- 

 rufous. 



Inhabits Africa, common in South Africa. 



Le Parasite, Le Yaill. Ois. Afriq. pi. 22. Kucken-duif of 

 the Cape Colonists. 



Genus ELANUS. Savigny. 



Tarsi short, reticulated, and half covered with feathers below 

 the knees ; wings long ; tail slightly forked or moderately gra- 

 duated. 



Elanus Ccesius, Savig. Bill black ; cere yellow ; eyes red ; 

 front and eyebrows white ; crown and back of neck light 



[87] 



