202 DIURNAL BIRDS OF PREY. 



blown across the Atlantic to the western shores of Europe. Of its habits, Dr. W. 

 L. Ralph writes to Captain Bendire as follows : " Excepting perhaps the turkey- 

 vulture, 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 bird do. Their motions 

 are very swallow-like, and that, with their forked tails, makes them look like 

 gigantic swallows ; and, like the chinmey-swifts, they have a habit of travelling 

 together in small companies, usually consisting of three individuals, especially 

 when they first return from the south. During the breeding-season flocks con- 

 sisting of from two or three to ten or twelve birds, but oftener of three, may be 

 seen following one another around, frequently uttering their calls, and circling in 

 and out among the tree-tops so fast as to make one dizzy to look at them. Except 

 during this season, one seldom sees one of these birds unless it is flying, and I have 

 often wondered if they did not at times sleep while on the wing. At least I know 

 that they usually, if not always, eat while flying ; for I have many times seen one 

 sailing leisurely along, occasionally bending its head to tear a piece from a small 

 snake that it held in its talons, and I have never seen one alight to eat its food, as 

 other birds of prey do. When hunting, they fly quite close to the ground, like 

 marsh-harriers, but at other times they sail above the tree-tops, and sometimes so 

 far above that it takes a good eye to see them. Their food consists almost entirely 

 of reptiles ; small snakes seem to be a favourite article of food with them. I have 

 never seen one catch a bird, and believe they do not. This habit of eating snakes 

 has given them the name of snake-hawk among the natives of Florida." These 

 birds beffin to arrive from the south in the latter state about the middle of March, 

 but do not become common till two or three weeks later. There they nest in 

 April, usually building in tall pines, frequently at a height of ninety, and some- 

 times as much as a hundred and thirty feet from the ground. The nest is a very 

 irregular structure of mossy twigs, and usually contains two eggs, spotted and 

 blotched with rich brown and ferruginous. The African swallow - tailed kite 

 {Nanclervbs riocowri) is about two-thirds the size of the above, with relativel}^ 

 shorter wings. It is greyish above and white beneath, and is confined to the 

 western and north-eastern parts of the continent. 

 Vuiturine Sea- The vulturine sea-eagle {Gypohierax angolensis) brings us to a 



Eagle. group of four genera which, while agreeing with the preceding in the 

 shortness of the bare portion of the metatarsus, difter in the absence of a flap 

 of membrane to the nostrils, which have a clean, bony margin. In three of them 

 the aperture of the nostril is oval, with its longer axis placed more or less nearly at 

 right angles to that of the beak, but in Haliastiir the aperture is circular. In 

 all, the tails are rounded or slightly emarginate. It may be well to mention 

 that Haliastur is represented by the common brahmany or maroon-backed kite 

 {H. indus), easily recognised by its white head, neck, throat, and breast, and the 

 maroon-chestnut of the rest of the plumage. 



The vulturine sea-eagle, which is the sole representative of its genus, differs 

 from the other forms with oval nostrils by the naked space above the eye, and is 

 conspicuous for its parti - coloured plumage. It has a peculiarly vulture -like 

 appearance, and may be compared in size to a kite, the total length of the male 



