46 
FALCONINiE. MILVUS. 
autumn. A few instances of its breeding in England are 
known ; and one has occurred in Scotland, in the woods of 
Abergeldie, in Aberdeenshire. The eggs are broadly elliptical, 
inches long, l|| broad, white, blotched with brown. Re- 
markable for its predilection for the larvae of bees and wasps. 
Honey Buzzard. 
Ealco apivorus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 130.~Falco apivorus, 
Temm. Man. d’Ornith. i. 67. — Pernis apivora, MacGillivray, 
Brit. Birds, iii. 254. 
GENUS VII. MILVUS. KITE. 
Bill shorter than the head, somewhat broader than high 
at the base, much compressed toward the end, strong ; upper 
mandible with the dorsal line decurved from the base, the 
sides rapidly sloping, the edges with a slight festoon, the 
tip decurved, trigonal, tapering, rather blunt ; lower man- 
dible with the angle large and wide, the dorsal line slightly 
convex, the sides convex, the tip rounded. Mouth wide ; 
tongue short, sagittate and papillate at the base, concave 
above, rounded and emarginate ; oesophagus wide, about the 
middle dilated into a moderate crop ; proventriculus wide ; 
stomach, roundish, its muscular coat thin ; intestine of mode- 
rate length, slender ; coeca very small ; cloaca very large and 
globular. Nostrils rather small, elliptical, oblique. Eyes 
large,, superciliary ridge prominent. Aperture of ear large, 
roundish. Head of moderate size, ovate, rather flattened 
above ; neck short ; body moderately full. Legs short, 
robust ; tarsi very short, roundish, feathered for more than 
a third, scutellate in front ; toes of moderate length, strong, 
the first and second nearly equal, the fourth more slender 
and connected by a basal web with the third, all scutellate 
above nearly in their whole length ; claws long, well curved, 
tapering, compressed, very acute, the first and second largest. 
Plumage full and soft ; feathers of the head, neck, and breast 
pointed ; wings extremely long, broad, narrow, the first quill 
short, the third longest ; tail very long, broad, forked or 
emarginate. 
Milvus is distinguished from Pernis by the still more 
elongated wings and tail, the bristly covering of the loral 
space, and the more curved claws. The kites are remark- 
