520 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



A small European kite deserves mention from its peculiar diet. It 

 cares but little for the larger game of its relatives ; but if it can obtain 

 insects or insect larvae, it asks nothing better. It attacks the nests of 

 wasps and bees, utterly regardless of the stings of the infuriated insects, 

 and fills itself with the larvae which it finds in the comb. This habit has 

 given it the name of bee-kite. 



In arranging the birds of prey, naturalists are fond of calling certain 

 birds " true," and others " so-called." Thus we have true and so-called 



buzzards, true and 

 so-called vultures ; 

 and so on through 

 the whole series. 

 Following- the time- 

 honored custom, we 

 will speak of a few 

 of the ' true ' hawks. 

 Here comes the gos- 

 hawk, which with 

 its varieties occurs 

 in both Europe and 

 America. It is a 

 large bird, and flies 

 strongly and rapidly, 

 and is not accus- 

 tomed to soaring, 

 like so many of 

 its relatives. Here 

 also comes Cooper's 

 hawk and the sharp- 

 shinned hawk, and 

 among others two 

 African hawks, 

 which are remarka- 

 ble among all the 

 birds of prey from their having a truly musical voice, and of singing its 

 short notes at intervals for hours together. None of the true hawks are 

 large ; and some are very small. A foot and a half from the tip of the 

 beak to the end of the tail is but rarely exceeded among them, except in 

 tin- case of the goshawk, the female of which may be two feet long. 



Of the falcons we can only refer to the game-falcons, the typical 

 species of which, the peregrine falcon, is shown in our cut. This is a 



Fig. 430. — Young goshawk (Astur palumbarius). 



