290 NATURAL HISTORY. 



yellow ground, very thickly blotched and spotted with dark reddish-brown. They are somewhat 

 small and rather long in shape. Of these rarely more than two are hatched The young ones are 

 at first fed with Caterpillars, Flies, Beetles, Worms, &c., which the old birds collect in their crops, 

 and then throw up ; later they are treated to pieces of Wasps' nests filled with larvae, Frogs, Mice, 

 young birds, &c. The parent birds still continue to feed their young long after the latter have left the 

 nest. Both young and old birds remain in company almost till the moulting season comes round, when 

 they migrate more to the southward." 



The Honey-Kite inhabits, during the summer, the greater part of Europe, and flies away to Africa 

 to pass the winter. In India it is represented by a species which goes through similar changes of 

 plumage, but may always be recognised by its long crest. The phases through which the Honey-Kite 

 passes are most remarkable, the bird being sometimes nearly all white, at other times all black; and 

 this plumage seems to occur at any age, sometimes in youth, sometimes in old age ; and hence this is 

 called a melanism (/*e'A.or, black). Many birds of prey are subject to this melanism, but none 

 more so than the Honey-Buzzards, and their representatives in America, the Tooth-billed Kites 

 (Leptodori). 



ANDEESSON'S PEKN (Machcerhamphus * Anderssonl). 



This remarkable bird bears the name of one of the most intrepid, as well as one of the most 

 unassuming, of African travellers, the late Charles John Andersson, who discovered it during his 

 residence in Damara Land in South-western Africa. So rare is it, and so difficult to obtain, that he 

 only managed to procure two specimens in the space of ten years, though constantly on the look-out 

 for the bird. He writes concerning it: "On the 10th of March, 1865, I obtained one specimen, a 

 female, of this singular bird at Objimbinque, Damara Land. It was shot by my servant, who 

 observed another, probably the male. I imagine that I have myself observed it once or twice in the 

 neighbourhood of Objimbinque just before dusk. When brought to me I instinctively suspected the 

 bird to be a feeder at dusk or at night, and called out, ' Why, that fellow is likely to feed 011 Bats ! ' 

 And truly enough so it turned out ; for on dissection an undigested Bat was found in the stomach ; 

 and in another specimen, subsequently killed by Axel, there were several Bats in the stomach, "t It is 

 probably owing to this habit of feeding in the evening that the bird is so difficult to procure, as is the 

 case with many of the Goat-suckers, which are also night-feeding birds. Since Mr. Andersson's death, 

 two or three specimens of his Pern have been sent from Madagascar, but in the intervening portions 

 of the African continent it is as yet unknown. 



The colouring of this species is plain, being of a chocolate-brown colour, with a long crest springing 

 from the back of the head ; above the eye is a white spot, and another below the eye ; the throat and chest 

 are white, with a streak of dark brown down the centre of the throat ; the quills and tail are banded 

 the bars showing paler below. The length of the bird is about seventeen inches. 



Only one other species of the genus Maclwerhamphus is known, and this is Westermann's Pern 

 (M. alcinus), which is an inhabitant of Malacca, where it is almost as rare as Andersson's Pern is in 

 Africa. It has lately been sent from South-eastern New Guinea, and may ultimately be found to 

 inhabit some of the Moluccas. 



THE FIFTH SUB-FAMILY. THE FALCONS (Falconina:). 



In all the true Falcons and in the allied genera the bill, which was simply festooned in the Eagles, 

 Kites, and Buzzards, becomes very distinctly toothed, and in some genera even two teeth are present. 

 In these birds, too, the cere is strongly shown, and is generally of a bright yellow colour. 



THE CUCKOO-FALCONS (Baza). 



These birds have the soft plumage of a Honey-Kite, and yet possess the toothed bill of a Falcon, so 

 that they are placed among the Falconinse ; but, because of their Kite-like plumage, they follow close 

 to the Perns and Honey-Kites. They not only possess the usual tooth of the Falcon's bill, but a 

 second is actually present, so that there is no difficulty in recognising a member of the genus Baza. 



* /iuxaipci, a sharp knife ; pantos, a bill. 



t Andersson's " Birds of Damara Land." Edited by J. H. Gurney, 1872, p. 22. 



