194 DIURNAL BIRDS OF PREY. 



back of the head These birds vaiy from 14 to 17 inches in length, and many of 

 them are remarkable for their handsome coloration. The Indian representative 

 of the genus is the black crested falcon, or, as it is commonly called, kite (Baza 

 lophotes), which has the plumage of the upper-parts of a glossy greenish black, 

 and a uniformly black tail. It is a rare bird, frequenting forests, and feeding 

 almost exclusively on insects. The other species have the tail brown or grey, 

 with darker bars; some, like the Philippine crested falcon {B. Tnagnirostris), 

 having the breast marked with broad transverse bars of white and chestnut; 

 while in the West African cuckoo-falcon (B. cuculoides) the brown bands are 

 narrower, less continuous, and confined to the sides of the body beneath the 

 wings. Three Central and South American falcons, constituting the genus 

 Harpagus, differ from the crested falcons by the absence of the plume of feathers, 

 and also by the presence of a tubercle in the centre of the nostrils. 



The Eagle-uke Subfamily. 



The preceding genera are included, as we have seen, in the subfamily 



Falconinw; and we now come to a second subfamily, known as the Aquilinoi, 



which includes the honey-buzzards, kites, eagles, etc. The members of this group 



differ from the last by the sides of the beak being simply festooned, instead of 



notched ; although they resemble them in having the hinder aspect of the 



metatareus reticulated, that is to say, with the scales small and polygonal. As 



regards their insectivorous habits, the Mississippi and crested falcons serve to 



connect the more typical members of the preceding subfamily with the kites. In 



the whole group the nostrils are not concealed by plumes. 



A rare visitor to the British Islands, the honey-buzzard (Pernis 

 Honey-Buzzards. ./ \ 



fnellivora) is a well-known although locally distributed bird on the 



Continent, and is the only European representative of the small genus to which 



it belongs. The honey-buzzards agree with a considerable number of other genera 



in having the lower portion of the metatarsus bare, the length of the naked part 



being, however, less than that of the third toe, exclusive of the claw ; and also in 



the oblique fonn of the nostrils, which are generally closed in by a membrane, so 



as to render their aperture little more than a slit. They are more specially 



characterised by the tail being rounded, with the outer feathers inferior in length 



to the middle pair. From their immediate allies they are distinguished by 



the shortness of that portion of the beak in advance of the cere, as compared 



with the third toe; while the bill itself is stout and the feathers on the lores 



short and not produced beyond the hinder edge of the nostril. The wings are 



long and large, and the tail also elongated ; the toes are of moderate length, and 



the claws but slightly curved. The shortness of the feathers on the lores, 



together with its peculiar gait, which has been compared to the running of a hen, 



render the honey-buzzard the most unhawk-like of all the British representatives 



of the family. It is subject to a great amount of variation in the colour and 



markings of the plumage, more especially in birds of the first and second year. 



Generally speaking, it may be said, however, that the adult male (as shown in our 



upper figure) has an ashy grey head, brown upper-parts, with the feathers 



