ACCIPITRES. 241 
Mitvvus, Bechstein. 
_ The Kites have short tarsi, and weak toes and nails, which, added 
to a beak equally disproportioned to their size, render them the 
most cowardly species of the whole genus; they are distinguished 
by their excessively long wings, and their forked tail, which give 
them great powers of flight. 
Some of them have very short tarsi, which are reticulated and half 
invested with feathers above, like the last small tribe of eagles (the 
Exanus, Savigny). Such are, 
Falco melanopterus, Daud.; Le Blac, Sav. Eg. Ois. pl. 2, f. 2; 
Vaill. Afr. xxxvi and xxxvii; Bonap. Am. II, xi, 1. As large 
as a Sparrowhawk ; plumage soft and silky; tail but slightly 
forked ; cinereous above ; white beneath; the small wing coverts 
blackish : the young is brown, varied with fawn colour. This 
bird is common from Egypt to the Cape, and appears to be 
found in India, and even in America.(1) Insects are almost its 
only game. 
F. furcatus, L.; The fork-tailed Kite, Catesb. iv; Wils. li, 2 ; 
Vieillot, Am. 10. White ; wings and tail black ; the two exter- 
nal quills of the latter very long ; larger than the preceding. 
It attacks reptiles.(2) 
Kirss, properly so called, 
Have stronger and scutellated tarsi. 
F, milvus, L.3; Milan commun, Enl. 422 ; Naum. 31, f. 1. Fawn 
coloured; quills of the wings, black ; tail, red; of all the birds 
of Europe this remains longest and most tranquilly on the wing. 
It usually attacks nothing but reptiles.(3) 
Col. 86 ;—Falco columbarius, Catesb. 4, Vieill. Am. pl. 2 and Wils. II. xv, 3 ;— 
Ep. tachiro, Vaill. Afr. 24, (F. tachiro, Daud.) Col. 377 and 420;—F. cuculoides, 
Temm. Col. 110 and 129 ;—F. xanthothorax, T. Col. 92; F. virgatus, T. Col. 
109;—F. brachipterus, T. Col. 14 and 116, or F- concentricus, Wlig.;—F-. pileatus, Pr. 
Max. Col. 205 ;—F. gymnogenys, Col. 307; F. pennsylvanicus, Wils. V1, xlvi, 1 ; 
very different from the Goshawk so called, Id. pl. liv, and the young, col. 67 ;—F. 
velox, Wils. VI, xlv, 1, is the young female of it, according to Charles Bonap.;— 
’ F. lineatus, Wils. V1, liii, 3 ;—F. hiemalis, Wils. IV, xxxv, 1;—F. striatus, 
. Vieill, Am. pl. 14;—F. niger, Vieill. Gal. 22. See Append. XIIT of Am. Ed. 
(1) This we consider a mistake of our author; it has never been found in this 
country. The bird alluded to has been ascertained by Temminck to be a distinct 
_ species, and is called by him F: dispar. Am. Ed. 
(2) Add the F. riocourii, Vieill. Col. 85 ;—the Irregular-tailed Kite, (F. dispar, 
Tem.) Col. 319. 
(3) Add the Parasite, Vaill. Afr. 22, or the Milan noir, Enl. 472, Naum. 31, f. 
2; Savigny, Eg. Ois. pl. iii, f. 1, is the Fale. ater, F. egyptius, and the Fale. Fors- 
Vou. I.—2 F 
