198 BIRDS 



majesty, with many pretensions to beauty and 

 grace, is the misleadingly named Fish Eagle 

 {Halicetus vocifer). But little inferior in size to 

 his warlike relative, this cheery soul, whose shrill 

 screams echo not unmusically over these waste 

 places of the earth, takes life much less seriously. 

 His garb of reddish brown to dark slaty grey on 

 back and wing covers, is relieved by a shirt-front 

 of snowy white, and is a true index to his gay, 

 loquacious temperament. The conversations sus- 

 tained by two or more of these birds, soaring mere 

 specks in the blue vault, will keep you entertained 

 by the hour. You can almost get some inkling of 

 their meaning, and quite follow the eagerness of 

 their interrogations, the one of the other, as to 

 whether they are likely to get a meal to-day or not. 

 They are quite omnivorous, and whether the find be 

 the corpse of a fish, a fowl, or an elephant, they are 

 quite ready to sink the claim to monopoly implied by 

 their name, and lend a willing beak to the cleansing 

 of the bones of any deceased animal. The Helotarsus 

 ecaudatus, or tailless Bateleur Eagle, and another 

 smaller though equally handsome bird, are very 

 common, whilst the large Gypohierax, or Vulturine 

 Eagle, may frequently be distinguished hovering 

 among birds of prey as they circle over a newly 

 killed beast. Among the buzzards are the dis- 

 gusting bare-necked or so-called Turkey Buzzards, 

 Buteo desertorum, the B. augur, and another 

 probably the Asturinula. The Swallow-tailed Kite 

 and the Egyptian variety are exceedingly common, 

 and hover all day long over the back premises of even 

 populous settlements with great confidence, a source 



