310 A VES ORDER A CCIPITRIFORMES. 



times the males perform aerial evolutions. The male never assists the 

 female in the duties of incubation, but diligently supplies his mate with food. 

 Mr. John Clark informed Captain Bendire that he has seen the female rise 

 from the nest to welcome the male with shrill cries when he came in 

 sight, and then take the prey from his talons and fly back with it to the 

 nest. 



Intermediate between the Harriers and the Go<-Hawks comes the genus 

 Micrastur, containing the Harrier- Hawks of Tropical America. These are 

 birds which have the stout build of a Gos-Hawk combined with the facial 

 ruflf of the Harriers, and, as in the last-named genus of birds, the tarsus is 

 reticulated behind. Then follow several genera of Gos-Hawks, such as 

 Geranospizias of Tropical America, Urotriorchis of Africa, and Erythrocnema, 

 again a New World form, so closely allied to the Chanting Gos-Hawks of 

 Africa (Melierax) that the two genera are scarcely distinguishable. 



Two species of this genus are known, one, E. unicinda, inhabiting South 



America from Brazil to Chili, and the other, E. harrisi, being found in 



Central America, north to the Southern United States. 



The Red-thighed Little has been recorded of the habits of the Red-thighed 



Gos-HawkSi Gos-Hawks, but Captain Bendire says that they appear 

 Genus to be lazy and sluggish birds, with a slow and not graceful 



Erythrocnema. flight. They build in low trees, and the nest is a poorly 

 constructed affair, so that on one occasion Captain Bendire 

 declares that he could see the eggs through the bottom of the nest. 



These birds are confined to the ^Ethiopian Region, and they are called 

 "Chanting" Gos-Hawks on account of their supposed 



The Chanting utterance of a song. Le Vaillant is the principal 



Gos-Hawks. authority for this statement, but like many other records 

 Genus Meherax. o f this traveller's, it is open to doubt ; and Mr. Layard 

 says that he never heard anything of the sort in 

 South Africa. 



The preceding genera possess a bony tubercle in their nostrils, but 

 the true Gos-Hawks (Astur) have not this peculiarity. On the contrary, 

 they have an oval nostril with no tubercle. They are remarkable for their 

 stout and heavy bill, accompanied by stout legs and short toes. They are of 

 all sizes, some of them being as big as a Buzzard, while others are scarcely 

 larger than a Thrush. 



The Common Gos-Hawk is a bird of the woods and forests, where it builds a 



nest of great size, which it lines with roots and moss, but does not use green 



leaves as many birds of prey do. The great size of the 



The Common nest is probably due to the additions made by the birds 



Gos-Hawk. from year to year. The eggs are pale greenish white, and 

 Astur palumbarius. are on iy very rare ly marked with faint brown spots. The 

 Gos-Hawk is a most useful bird to the falconer, as it is an 

 adept at taking rabbits, but it belongs to the group of short- winged Hawks and 

 cannot fly down its prey like an Eagle or a Falcon. Seebohm observes : *' In 

 spite of his comparatively short wings, he is a bird of very powerful flight. 

 and of undaunted courage. He disdains to eat carrion, and will scarcely 

 stoop to catch a sitting bird. He hunts on the wing, and nothing is safe 

 from his attacks, from a sparrow to a grouse, or from a mouse to a young 

 roe. In summer he confines himself principally to the woods and the open 

 places in their immediate neighbourhood ; but late in autumn and winter he 

 extends the range of his hunting-grounds, pursuing partridges and hares, and 



