64 SO UTH - WESTERN A SI A 



way to Cape Colony. This beautiful bird is about 10 inches long ; the head and 

 mantle are chestnut, the back creamy buff, the lower part of the back being 

 marked with blue, while the tail-feathers are green with blue edges ; the bright 

 yellow throat has a black edge, and the rest of the under-parts are light greenish 

 blue. 



The crested cuckoos, which are about the size of the common 



species, are distinguished by the slender body, the thin but fairly 

 strong beak, and the pointed crest. Most of the species are African, but one 

 inhabits the south of Europe and south-western Asia, and two others are Indian. 

 The great spotted cuckoo (Coccystes glandarius) is the Mediterranean species, which 

 is found in Africa as far south as the Congo, and has straggled as far north as 

 England and Germany. It is an active bird, less wary than the ordinary cuckoo, 

 and feeds entirely on insects. Its haunts are in forests and gardens abounding in 

 trees, particularly mimosa-forests ; and it deposits its eggs chiefly in the nests of 

 rooks and other members of the crow tribe. In length it is about 16 inches ; and 

 in colour it is ashy brown above spotted with white, and creamy white below 

 with a burl* hue on the chest, the crown and crest being dark grey. 



So far as the central European birds-of-prey are not exclusively 



inhabitants of the north, they are probably all found in suitable 

 districts of the Mediterranean countries. Among the nocturnal kinds, the barn, 

 the little, and the tawny owl range into Asia Minor, Syria, and Palestine, while 

 the scops-eared owl is a typical bird of the Mediterranean countries. 



Among the falcons, the noble and widely spread peregrine is 



found in the Mediterranean, as in other districts, in the mountains, 

 while the lanner (Falco feldeggii) prefers the plains. The latter species nests in 

 oaks and other tall forest-trees near rivers, or on the ledges of steep cliffs. It 

 inhabits southern Europe and northern Africa and the corresponding latitudes of 

 central Asia as far east as China. Its European breeding-area comprises Spain, 

 Bohemia, lower Austria, Hungary, Bosnia, Galicia, Poland, southern Russia, Bulgaria, 

 and, although rarely, Greece ; while it builds frequently in Asia Minor. It is also 

 found in forests near Vienna and all down the Danube as far as the Dobrudscha, 

 where it generally uses the abandoned nests of other birds-of-prey. In winter the 

 lanner resorts to warmer climates, for instance Egypt, where it arrives with other 

 birds on the lagoons and swamps of the Nile Delta, but soon settles down to a 

 hunting-tract of its own in places where it has a good view of the surrounding 

 country. While the morning mist still hangs above the lagoons, and the geese, 

 ducks, and other water birds fill their shores with a deafening noise, the lanner 

 suddenly dashes down and seizes — amid the momentary silence caused by its 

 appearance — a victim from the midst of the flock, which it carries off to the 

 nearest elevated spot. When young, this falcon resembles the peregrine, but later 

 may be easily distinguished by its superior size, more pointed wings, and the buff 

 bars on the tail. In flight it is swifter than the peregrine, and works its wings 

 more vigorously, while when at rest it crosses them over the narrow tail and 

 holds the body erect. The kestrel ranges from southern Europe and North Africa 

 into India, while the lesser kestrel (F. cenchris) breeds in southern Europe, the 

 Grecian Archipelago, Asia Minor, Persia, Turkestan, and farther east, as well as in 



