HAWKS. 7& 



{Falconince) . The Carrion-Hawks or Caracaras are represented by the 

 three American genera Polyhorus (835 & 836), Ibycter (837 & 838), 

 and Milvago (839), which diflfer from all the other subfamilies in having 

 the inner as well as the outer toes united to the middle one by a web. 

 The brightly coloured naked skin of the cheeks and throat gives them 

 a very Vulturine appearance, and their food consists largely of carrion 

 supplemented by birds, reptiles, and frogs, etc. They are more or less 

 terrestrial in their habits, their long legs enabling them to walk and run 

 with ease, and their partially webbed feet assist them in traversing 

 marshy ground in search of their food. They are more or less gregarious, 

 often hunting in families or small parties and roosting in companies. 



The first of the Long-legged Hawks [Accipitrince) is the curious [Case 46.] 

 Banded Gymnogene [Polyboroides typicus) (840), from tropical Africa, 

 which feeds almost entirely on lizards and frogs. Next come the 

 Harriers {Circus), of which a good many different species are known 

 and easily recognised by their long slim form and the curious facial 

 ruff, which gives them a superficial resemblance to the Owls. Three 

 species, the Hen-Harrier (841), Montagues Harrier (842), and the 

 Marsh-Harrier or Moor-Buzzard (844), are found in Great Britain, but 

 owing to their well-known partiality for eggs and young birds their 

 numbers have been greatly diminished. All make their nest on the 

 ground and lay white eggs. Other allied genera represented are the 

 Harrier-Hawks {Micrastur) (846 & 847) from S. America, and the 

 Black Goshawk [Geranospizias niger) (845). 



The One- banded Buzzard [Parabuteo] (849) and the Chanting Gos- [Case 47.] 

 hawk {Melierax) (850) require no special remark, but the latter is \ 



said to utter a mellow piping song. Of the true Goshawks (Astur), 

 of which many species are known, attention may be drawn to the 

 remarkable white Australian species {A. nova-hollandice) (851), the 

 Common Goshawk {A. palumbarius) (857), which still occasionally 

 occurs in the British Islands and is greatly valued in Falconry for the 

 pursuit of hares and rabbits, etc., and its North American representative 

 {A. atricapillus) (853). A somewhat dififerent Crested Goshawk will be 

 found in A. trivirgatus (860). Closely allied to these, but distinguished 

 by the longer, more slender legs and feet and the very long middle toe, 

 the Sparrow-Hawks {Accipiter) are represented by the common species rQggQ 47 t 

 {A. nisus) (866), a plentiful bird in the British Isles in spite of the 

 numbers that are annually destroyed by gamekeepers and others. It 

 is sometimes trained in this country to take Partridges, Quails, or 

 Blackbirds, and in India and Japan is still prized by falconers. The 

 smallest member of the genus is the Little Sparrow-Hawk {A. minullus) 

 (865) from South Africa, and one of the largest is Cooper's {A. cooperi) 

 (862) from temperate North America. After the rare Radiated 



