The Bazas 229 



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although it seldom flies far. It is not a shy bird, but is often found living and 

 even nesting in wooded gardens and groves about houses. Its nest, which it 

 appears to build for itself, is placed in the fork of a tree, and is made of small 

 sticks and lined, like the nest of its relative, with green leaves. The eggs are 

 usually two, although not infrequently there is but one. The Crested Honey 

 Buzzard subsists principally upon the combs of bees, eating honey, wax, and 

 larva?, also the bees themselves, other insects, reptiles, and occasionally the 

 eggs and young of birds. 



The Bazas. Much smaller and quite different in some respects from the 

 last are the Bazas, although the points of resemblance to them are so important 

 that they are regarded as belonging to the same subfamily. They have a very 

 long nuchal crest, composed, however, of but few feathers. The bill is much 

 shorter and stouter than in the Honey Buzzards, and besides being decidedly 

 hooked at the end, has the upper mandible provided with two pronounced 

 teeth or projecting angles. The wings are of moderate length and have the 

 third or fourth quill longest. Some seventeen species are known, ranging from 

 Africa and Madagascar through the Oriental region and parts of the Australian 

 region. The Black-crested Baza (B. lophotes}, a widely distributed species 

 in Oriental countries, is mainly black above, with a white patch on the shoulders, 

 and a white band across the smaller coverts, while the throat is white, the breast 

 blackish, and the remainder of the lower parts buff with ferruginous cross-bars. 

 It frequents the high-tree forests and is somewhat gregarious, although nowhere 

 abundant. It feeds mainly on insects and an occasional lizard. Very little 

 is known of its nidification. There is a handsome species in South Africa known 

 as Verreaux's Cuckoo-Falcon (B. verreauxii), which is dark ashy gray above, 

 somewhat shaded with brown, with the sides of the face, throat, and chest clear 

 gray, while the breast is clear white conspicuously banded with pale rufous- 

 brown; the tail is also banded. It is a rare, shy bird, frequenting the dense 

 brush, and feeding on insects. 



Swallow-tailed Kite. Although there is perhaps some doubt as to the 

 correctness of the reference of our Swallow-tailed Kite (Elanoides forficatus] 

 to this subfamily, Mr. Pycraft is of the opinion that it should be so placed. In 

 external form it certainly resembles the true Kites, but anatomically it is said 

 to be quite different. It is a handsome bird, from twenty to twenty-five inches 

 long, with the head, neck, entire lower parts, and a band across the rump pure 

 white, while the back, wings, and deeply forked tail are polished black. It is 

 found throughout the warm-temperate portions of continental America, coming 

 north in the summer to Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota, and along the Atlantic 

 coast casually to Pennsylvania and southern New England. It is more or less 

 gregarious, ranging in flocks of three to often a dozen or more. Dr. William 

 L. Ralph, who had excellent opportunities of observing this species in Florida, 

 wrote of it to Major Bendire as follows : " Excepting, perhaps, the Turkey Vul- 

 ture, I think this bird is the most graceful of any while on the wing. It has the 

 same easy floating motion, but at times it flies very rapidly and turns very quickly, 

 which is something I have never seen the former birds do. Their motions are 



