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Genus ELANUS. 



Falco apud Desfontaines, Mem. Acad. R. des Sc. 1787, p. 503. 

 Elanus, Savigny, Syst. Ois. de l'Egypte, &c, p. 37 (1810). 

 Elanoides apud Vieillot, Encycl. Method, iii. p. 1206 (1823). 

 Buteo apud Vieillot, torn. cit. p. 1120 (1823). 



According to Mr. Sharpe five species belong to this genus, which is represented in the southern 

 portions of the Palsearctic Region, the Ethiopian, Oriental, and Australian Regions, the southern 

 portions of the Nearctic Region, and the Neotropical Region, one species only being found in 

 the Western Palsearctic Region. 



In general habits these birds are said to resemble the Harrier more than any others of the 

 Raptores ; but they are peculiar in being to some extent crepuscular. Their flight is varied ; 

 but they do not appear to go far. They frequent well-wooded cultivated districts, and are said 

 to avoid the bare open plains. They feed on small mammals and insects, and but rarely on birds. 

 They nest in trees, building a tolerably large nest of sticks, lined with hair and roots, and lay 

 several yellowish-white eggs blotched with rich red, some being almost as closely marked as eggs 

 of the Kestrel. 



Elanus cceruleus, the type of the genus, has the bill rather small, the upper mandible 

 curving from the base, the tip being strongly hooked and pointed ; nostrils oval, placed in the 

 anterior part of the cere, and, to some extent, covered by thin soft bristles ; wings long and 

 broad, the first quill longer than the fourth, the second or third longest ; tail short, nearly even ; 

 legs and feet stout, the tarsus feathered in the front to more than half the length ; toes stout, 

 claws moderate, curved, acute. 



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