THE BLACK- WINGED FALCON. 



63 



in number. Their colour is white with a greenish tinge, and they are marked with some 



dark-brown blotches which are gathered towards the larger end. There is only one brood 



in the year, and when the young birds are first hatched, they are covered with a uniformly 



buff-coloured downy coat. The colour of the adult bird is variable, consisting mostly of 



white and black, but on account of the bold manner in which their hues are contrasted, 



is remarkably pleasing in its effect. The back, the upper part of the wings, with the 



exception of the inner webs of the 



tertiaries, upper tail coverts and 



rectices, are a deep purple-black, 



the head, neck, and all other 



parts of the plumage being pure 



white. The legs and toes are blue 



with a green tinge, the cere is 



blue, and the beak blue-black. 



The claws are orange-brown. The 



length of this bird averages twenty 



inches. 



The young of this species 

 very rapidly acquire the tints of 

 the adult bird. When they put 

 off the buff downy mantle of their 

 childhood, they are provided with 

 black and white plumage which 

 bears a close resemblance to the 

 hues of the adult bird, but is 

 devoid of the glossy purple sheen 

 which is so beautiful a charac- 

 teristic in the colouring. At tliis 

 period of their existence, the tail 

 is hardly so deeply cleft as that 

 of the common kite, of Europe. 

 By the end of the autumn, how- 

 ever, the tail assumes its pecu- 

 liarly beautiful forked form, and 

 the plumage attains its perfect 

 colouring, so that the bird of a 

 year old can hardly be distin- 

 guished from one of six or seven 

 years of age. 



The small but brilliant Black- 

 wiNGED Falcon is a native of 

 Africa, but is found in nearly all 

 the temperate portions of the Old 

 World. It has also been seen in 

 New Zealand and Java. 



It is a fierce and daring little 

 bird, striking so sharply with beak and claws, that even when wounded it cannot be 

 approached without considerable precaution. The food of the Black-winged Falcon con- 

 sists chiefly of grasshoppers and various insects, from which it is thought to derive the 

 powerful musky odour which is exhaled from its body, and marks every spot on which 

 it has recently sat. It is generally to be seen perched on the extreme top of some lofty 

 tree, and while looking out for prey or engaged in active pursuit, pours forth a succession 

 of ear-piercing cries, earning thereby from several ornithologists, tlie specific title of 

 " vociferus." Besides insects, it also feeds upon snakes and various small reptiles, and will 

 sometimes, though but rarely, kill small birds or mice. 



BLACK-WINGED FALCON.— Eianiw melandptencs. 



