LEUCOPTERXIS, 251 



does not app( ar to occur on the cleared lands of the crast, nor on 

 the low savannahs. Around the Indian cassava fields or deserted 

 settlements, it will at times be found perching in the undercover 

 or in the sheltered branches of the trees, jumping from branch to 

 bi-anch in search of grasshoppers, locusts, cicadas, and reptiles ; 

 but I have never seen it on the exposed topmost bare branches, 

 so much frequented by the generality of hawks. It is, there- 

 fore, not easy to secure, for one generally comes upon it suddenly 

 and at close quarters, and almost before one is aware of it, the 

 bird has jumped into some little thicket of branches and is lost 

 from view." 



159. Leucopternis melanops. 



Black-faced Hawk. 



Falco melanops Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. .37, 1790 (Cayenne). 

 Asturina melanops Cab. in Sehomb. Eeis. Guian. iii. p. 737, 1848. 

 Iruhiiinga melanops Shai-j^e, Cat. B. Brit. Mu.«. i. p. 220, 1874. 

 Leucopternis melanops Salvin, Ibis. 1886, p. 75 (River Ataptirau) ; 



Quelch, Timehri (2) vi. p. 1.58, 1892 fSeba. Demerara) ; Brabourne 



& Chubb, B. S. Amer. i. p. 69, no. 641, 1912. 



Adult. Head and mantle white with black shaft-streaks to the 

 feathers, which become pear-shaped on the mantle ; lores, eve- 

 brow, and a spot behind the eye black ; back and wings black 

 with white bases and white bars to the feathers, the primary and 

 secondary quills have obsolete brown bars ; upper tail-coverts 

 and tail black, the latter banded and tipped with white ; entire 

 under surface white. 



Total length 380 mm., culmen (including the cere) ?>1, wing 211, 

 tail 133, tarsus 67, middle toe and claw 41. 



The descri[ition of the bird is taken from an example collected 

 on the Ituriljisi Ri\er. 



The male and female appear to be alike, but more material is 

 required before we can say definitely. 



Breeding-season. Unknown in British Guiana. 



Nest. Unrecorded in British Guiana. 



Eggs. Undescribed from British Guiana. 



Range in British (Jiiia?ia. Upper Takutu ^Mountains, Tturil)isi 

 River, Bartica, Tiger Creek (McConneil collection) ; Kamaran<>- 

 River {Whitelg). 



J'Jvtralinntal Range. Nortliern Brazil. 



Habits. This bird, according to Schonibnrgk ( lU'is. (inian. iii. 

 p. 737), [irofer.s the oa>is on tlie Savannas, whore it is common and 



