124 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



as they are American and African, but the Long-legged Hawks 

 concern us, as representatives of the principal genera are found 

 in Great Britain, and constitute the first Sub-family of our true 

 Raptores, or Birds of Prey. 



THE LONG-LEGGED HAWKS. SUB-FAMILY 

 ACCIPITRIN^:. 



In these birds the membrane between the toes exists only 

 at the base of the outer and middle toes, which are joined 

 together by a web. The tibia is very long, as well as the 

 tarsus, and these two portions of the leg are about equal in 

 length, whereas in Buzzards, Eagles, and Falcons the tibia 

 is conspicuously longer than the tarsus. The Long-legged 

 Hawks comprise the Harriers, Goshawks, and Sparrow- 

 Hawks of Europe, as well as many tropical forms, such as 

 the Gymnogenes of Africa (Polyboroides\ curious reptile- 

 eating Hawks, apparently distant relations of the Secretary 

 Bird, but not so powerful as the latter bird, which is a 

 ground-loving and walking species, whereas the Gymnogene 

 is forest-loving and arboreal in its ways, It has, moreover 

 the curious faculty, not yet discovered in the Secretary, which, 

 is a weak-kneed individual from all accounts, of being ablt 

 to turn its leg backwards or forwards at will by an apparent 

 dislocation of the tibio-tarsal joint, an advantage in the catch- 

 ing of reptiles which is said to be shared by its relative, the 

 American genus Geranospizias. To this section of the Birds 

 of Prey belong also the Chanting-Goshawks (Mdierax) of 

 Africa. 



THE HARRIERS. GENUS CIRCUS. 



Circus, Lacep. Mem. de ITnst. Paris, iii. p. 506 (1806). 



Type, C. cyaneus (L.). 



The Harriers are as nearly as possible cosmopolitan birds. 

 They do not extend very far north, and affecting, as they do, 

 localities suited to their mode of life, they are absent from 

 some of the forest-clad regions of both Hemispheres. Then 

 is not, however, a single continent that is without its Harrier 

 and these birds are found in North and South America, Africa 



