5° CASSELL'S BOOK OF BIRDS. 



protect the little family from the rays of the sun. It is not uncommon for a pair of these birds to 

 return year after year to the same eyrie. They lay one or two eggs of an oval shape, with very thin, 

 coarse shells, of a blueish white colour. Both parents participate in the labour of incubation, sitting 

 alternately upon the eggs for about twenty-eight days. We are told, on reliable authority, that, if 

 molested, the mother bird removes her young to another place. The Snake Buzzard is easily tamed 

 if taken early from the nest. 



The CRESTED BUZZARDS [Spilornis) are a group of very remarkable birds, inhabiting the 

 most southern countries of Asia and Africa. Such species as we are acquainted with are of consider- 

 able size, and powerfully built ; their pointed wings, in which the fourth quill is the longest, extend to 

 the middle of the tail ; the latter is of moderate length, and rounded at the extremity ; the tarsus is 

 high, and the talons short and sharp ; the beak, which is straight at the base, curves abruptly towards 

 its tip ; the margin of the upper mandible is without teeth, whilst that of the lower one is excised near 

 the extremity. The plumage is thick, and prolonged into a crest at the back of the head. 



THE BACHA. 



The Bacha (Spilornis Bacha), the species we select as an example of this group, is described by 

 Le Vaillant as from twenty-two to twenty-four inches long, of which ten belong to the tail. The 

 plumage is a dusky greyish brown, darkest upon the upper parts of the body ; all the feathers upon 

 the borders of the wings, lower portion of the breast, belly, and legs are marked with three or four 

 round, white spots, standing out, by contrast, very distinctly from the dark body ; the wings are 

 blackish brown, and the feathers upon their covers bordered with greyish white ; the crest is white, 

 tipped with black, as are also the feathers on the brow. The eye is brownish red, the cere and feet 

 yellow, and the beak greyish blue. 



The Bacha is found throughout the interior of Southern Africa, Java, Nepaul, and China. 

 According to Le Vaillant, it frequents the most barren and mountainous districts of the countries it 

 inhabits, subsisting upon a variety of small quadrupeds, reptiles, and insects. It passes a solitary life, 

 after the manner of our Buzzard, and is but rarely met with. The voice of this species is very 

 melancholy. The breeding season commences in December ; the eyrie, which is most carelessly 

 constructed, is placed in holes of rocks, and usually contains from two to three eggs. Bernstein tells 

 us that such of these birds as inhabit Java live upon the outskirts of the woods, or amongst the groups 

 of trees growing near the villages. In such localities the nest is also built, a thickly-foliaged tree being 

 usually selected for the purpose. The same author describes the eggs as being of a dull white, 

 marked with irregular streaks and spots of reddish brown, which usually lie thickest towards the 

 two ends. 



Other species of Crested Buzzards are met with in the Philippine Islands, Ceylon, and India. 



THE HONEY BUZZARD. 

 The Honey Buzzard, or Wasp Kite {Pernis apivorus) may be regarded as forming the connecting 

 link between the Buzzards and True Kites. In this bird the body, wings, tail, and beak are long, the 

 latter, moreover, is shallow, weak, and but slightly curved towards its tip ; the third quill of the wings 

 exceeds the others in length, and the cheek-stripes are covered with short, stiff feathers ; the plumage 

 of this species is also harsher, and lies closer than that of the Buzzards above described. Its length 

 is from twenty-three to twenty-four inches, its breadth fifty-two to fifty-four inches j the wing measures 

 fifteen, and the tail nine inches. The plumage varies very considerably, both in its colour and 



