HARRIER-EAGLES. .^^^ - 213 



frequenting open districts rather than forests. In Abyssinia, where it is by no 

 means abundant, it has been obtained from considerable elevations in the 

 mountains. Mr. Blanford describes them " as soaring at a great height, their pointed 

 wings and extremely short tail rendering them no less conspicuous than the 

 contrast between the white under side of the wings and the black body. The 

 flight is superb, more like that of a vulture than of an eagle, as the bird sweeps 

 along with motionless wings, occasionally high up in the air, but more frequently 

 at about one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet above the ground." 

 Awakening with the first streaks of dawn, it leaves the trees on which it has 

 roosted during the night in search of food, and after hunting for some hours 

 seeks a resting-place in which to pass the hottest portion of the day, issuing forth 

 again to hunt in the evening. Levaillant states that these eagles prey upon young 

 antelopes, lambs, and sick sheep, and that they will also eat carrion ; while Heuglin 

 mentions them as feeding largely upon the smaller mammals. Their chief food 

 consists, however, of various snakes and lizards, of which they are said to consume 

 a larger amount than the secretary vulture. Snakes of all size, whether venomous 

 or harmless, are attacked by the bateleur, and speedily disabled by rapid blows from 

 its powerful beak. At such times as the grass-jungles are on fire, the bateleur, like 

 the other serpent-eating birds of Central Africa, beats along the line of flame in 

 order to seize the snakes and other reptiles, as they creep out, sometimes dashing 

 into the very thick of the smoke to secure its prey. The nest of these birds is 

 usually built in a tall tree, and frequently in those whose boughs are thickly beset 

 with thorns. It contains from two to four white eggs. The breeding-season takes 

 place at the commencement of the hot weather, when the snakes are more easily 

 captured than when the grass is long and rank. 



The remaining members of the Aquiline subfamily in which the 

 metatarsus is partially bare have the naked portion longer than in the 

 preceding group, and either equal in length to, or longer than the third toe, exclusive 

 of the claw. Of the several genera thus characterised, the buzzard-eagles (Batastur), 

 which range from India, China, and Japan through the Malayan region to New 

 Guinea, and also occur in North-Eastern Africa, differ from the rest in having the 

 oval nostrils provided with a membrane above ; the others having a clean bony 

 margin to these organs. Omitting mention of three unimportant genera, severally 

 represented by a single species, we find the harrier-eagles characterised by the 

 nostrils taking the form of transverse ovals, by the feathers of the small crest being 

 of a lance-like shape, and by the elongation of the wing. The long tail is nearly 

 even, the metatarsus long and reticulate, and the short beak somewhat compressed 

 and deeply hooked at the extremity, while the toes are very short. Most of the 

 few species of this, genus are confined to Africa, but the common harrier-eagle 

 (Circaetus gallicus) has a much wider distribution, ranging from the countries 

 bordering the Mediterranean to India, and the small islands of Timor and Flores, 

 and being sometimes found in Central Europe. They are usually met with in open 

 plains, living much on the wing, and feeding chiefly on snakes and other reptiles; and 

 in appearance and habits resembling the buzzards, with which they are connected by 

 the above-mentioned buzzard-eagles. The common harrier-eagle, represented in the 

 illustration on next page, is one of the smaller members of the group, the females 



