ORDER ACCIPITRES. 
The diurnal Birds of Prey: Hawks, Eagles, Falcons, the Osprey, Vultures; 
distinguishable by the rigid, hooked, and sharply pointed bill; powerful, hooked 
claws ; three toes in front and the fourth behind (except in the Osprey, ip which 
the outer toe is reversible); usually of great powers of flight; 11 primaries; 
plumage often varied in coloration, but of sober tints: brown, black, white, grey, 
rufous, and purplish being found, but pure yellow, blue, red, bright green, and 
metallic tints are wanting. The Accipitres usually build a nest of sticks; the 
eggs are white or whitish in ground-colour, in many genera very handsomely 
varied with markings of rufous or brown; the young are hatched helpless and 
clothed with down. 
FAMILY FALCONIDAE. 
Containing all the Birds of Prey, except the Osprey (which is distinguished 
from them by its having the outer toe reversible and pterylologically by its 
having no aftershaft to the feathers) and the Vultures (which have the head 
and neck hare, or clothed in down). 
GENUS SPILORNIS G. R. Gray. 
Birds of Prey of medium size (about as large as a Raven), stout and com- 
pact in form, wings moderate; bill not denticulate; a broad nuchal crest; 
tarsi naked (except the upper fourth anteriorly), reticulated with hexa- 
gonal scales; toes short; under parts marked with transverse spots or 
bars of white; food: chiefly reptiles and amphibians; number of eggs laid: one 
or two. The genus contains about 12 species of a local and stationary character, 
distributed from the Himalayas and South China to the Andaman Islands, Celebes 
and Sula. 
* 1. SPILORNIS RUFIPEOTUS J. Gd.‘) 
Russet-breasted Serpent-harrier. 
Under this specific name we include two well-pronounced geographical races, 
1. the typical Spilornis rufipectus of the mainland of Celebes, 2. Spilornis rujipectus 
1) The abbreviation of the author’s name at the head of each article is taken from the Berlin “Liste 
der Autoren” (1896), though the form adopted does not always meet with our approval, 
Meyer k Wiglesworth, Birds of Celebes (Oct. 4tli, 1897). 
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