ORDER ACCIPITRES. 59 



long streaks on the centre of the feathers ; thigh deep 

 red ; tail only slightly forked with nine or ten cross 

 bands. Length one foot ten inches. South Europe 

 and Africa. The F. Egyptius and F. Forskahlii of 

 Gm., and the F. parasiticus of Shaw. 



Vieillot describes a kite with a graduated tail, from 

 New Holland ; Milvus sphenura^ Vieil. Gal. Ois. 

 t. 15. which appears to be the Wedge-tail Eagle, F. 

 fucosa, Cuv. R. N. t. 3. f. 1. 



The Honey Buzzards (Pernis, Cuv.) Circus B. 

 Vieillot. 



With the weak beak of the kites, these have a very 

 peculiar character in the space between the eye and 

 the beak, which in all the rest of the genus Falco is 

 naked and furnished only with a few hairs, but in 

 these is covered with feathers lying close and cut like 

 scales ; their tarsi are half feathered toward the top, 

 and reticulated : for the rest they have the tail equal, 

 the wings long, the beak bent from its base like all 

 the following. We possess but one species. 



The Common Honey Buzzard, {F. apivorus, Lin.) pi. 



Enl. 420. 



Something less than the buzzard ; brown above, vari- 

 ously undulated^ with brown and whitish underneath : 

 the head of the male ashy at a certain age. This 

 bird feeds on insects, especially wasps and bees. 



The F. longipes of Nilson, Orn. Suecica. i. t. is 

 either this or a distinct species of buzzard. 



There are some others in foreign countries. 



