18 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



new, or that it was a species with which he was acquainted, he, in the 

 one case, described it as it appeared to him in the casual glance ; in the 

 other, from a foreign specimen. His inventions of habits, nests, and 

 eggs, <fec., are deliberate falsehoods. 



Genus HELOTARSUS, Dr. A. Smith. 

 The characters in common with Haliaetus ; but the tail is 

 exceedingly short and truncated. Tarsi short, covered with 

 small scales ; those posteriorly the largest. Toes long, the 

 basis of all covered with small scales, and the tips with trans- 

 verse ones. 



23. Helotarsus Ecaudatus. ffdotarsus 



B, cus, Smith ; Falco Ecaudatus, Shaw ; Terathopius 

 -tf y Ecaudatus, Less. ; Le Bateleur, Le Vail, PL 7 and 8 ; 

 Berghaan (cock of the mountains) of the Colonists. 



HEAD, neck, and nearly the whole of the upper and under 

 parts of the body black ; back and tail deep-red ; lesser wing- 

 coverts rufous ; head crested and frilled ; cere deep-orange ; 

 feet crimson. Length, 2'; wing, 16J"; tail 5J". 



This eagle is very uncommon in this colony ; a single pair frequent 

 some high mountain ranges near Caledon, and I have heard of a few 

 other spots where it is said to exist, or once did do so. I saw several 

 along the East Coast of Africa, and obtained a living specimen from 

 the Governor of Mozambique, which lived with me upwards of two years. 

 It fed voraciously on carrion of all kinds, including fish, but never 

 molested living things indeed, I kept him for a long time in the fowl- 

 house with the fowls, but had to turn him out, as he devoured the eggs 

 as fast as they were laid by the hens. 



T have seen a specimen from Lake N'Gami, procured by Mr. 

 Chapman ; and Mr. Atmore killed another with a stick in a wood at 

 the Kuysna. 



The Sub-Family, FALCONIN-ffi, or Falcons, 



have the bill short, the culmen curved from the base to the 

 tip, which is more or less furnished on the sides with teeth ; 

 the cere covering the nostrils, sometimes rounded, and some- 

 times long and linear ; the wings lengthened and pointed, 

 with the second and third quills generally the longest ; the 

 tail lengthened, and more or less rounded ^ the feet of various 

 sizes ; and the toes usually long and slender. 



Genus FALCO, Linn. 



Bill short, strong, with the culmen much arched from the 

 base to the tip, which is acute ; the sides compressed, the 

 lateral margins strongly toothed near the tip ; the nostrils 



