46 FALCONING. MILVUS. 



autumn. A few instances of its breeding in England are 

 known ; and one has occurred in Scotland, in the woods of 

 Abergeldie, in Aberdeenshire. The eggs are broadly elliptical, 

 2^ inches long, 1 ^ \ broad, white, blotched with brown. Re- 

 markable for its predilection for the larvse of bees and wasps. 



Honey Buzzard. 



Falco apivorus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 130. Falco apivorus, 

 Temm. Man. d'Ornith. i. 67. Pernis apivora, MacGillivray, 

 Brit. Birds, iii. 254. 



GENUS VII. MILVUS. KITE. 



Bill shorter than the head, somewhat broader than high 

 at the base, much compressed toward the end, strong ; upper 

 mandible with the dorsal line decurved from the base, the 

 sides rapidly sloping, the edges with a slight festoon, the 

 tip decurved, trigonal, tapering, rather blunt ; lower man- 

 dible with the angle large and wide, the dorsal line slightly 

 convex, the sides convex, the tip rounded. Mouth wide ; 

 tongue short, sagittate and papillate at the base, concave 

 above, rounded and emarginate ; oesophagus wide, about the 

 middle dilated into a moderate crop ; proventriculus wide ; 

 stomach roundish, its muscular coat thin ; intestine of mode- 

 rate length, slender ; coeca very small ; cloaca very large and 

 globular. Nostrils rather small, elliptical, oblique. Eyes 

 large, superciliary ridge prominent. Aperture of ear large, 

 roundish. Head of moderate size, ovate, rather flattened 

 above ; neck short ; body moderately full. Legs short, 

 robust ; tarsi very short, roundish, feathered for more than 

 a third, scutellate in front ; toes of moderate length, strong, 

 the first and second nearly equal, the fourth more slender 

 and connected by a basal web with the third, all scutellate 

 above nearly in their whole length ; claws long, well curved, 

 tapering, compressed, very acute, the first and second largest. 

 Plumage full and soft ; feathers of the head, neck, and breast 

 pointed ; wings extremely long, broad, narrow, the first quill 

 short, the third longest ; tail very long, broad, forked or 

 emarginate. 



Milvus is distinguished from Pernis by the still more 

 elongated wings and tail, the bristly covering of the loral 

 space, and the more curved claws. The kites are remark- 



