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BAZA LOPHOTES. 
Habits . — This “Baza” frequents forest or large tracts of jungle, and usually keeps to districts of no 
considerable altitude. It appears to he more gregarious than most Hawks ; for with the exception of the 
Kestrels and Kites, none seem to be so fond of each other’s company. The little troop that I met with more 
resembled Pigeons in their actions than birds of the hawk-tribe •, three were seated among the branches of one 
tree, and two others flew from branch to branch close by ; when 1 approached the whole made off with short 
flight, from tree to tree, during which movement I dropped my bird. They had a quick irregular mode of 
flying, and with their white chests and handsome wings, contrasted against the green foliage, had a very unhawk- 
like appearance. I notice, with regard to their sociability, that Mr. Inglis, in the " first List of Birds from 
Cachar ” (‘ Stray Feathers/ vol. v.), speaks of finding three in company with Bulbuls and King-Crows. Jerdon 
remarks that it is entirely insectivorous in its diet ; and a pair that Mr. Mitford met with near Ratnapura, 
referred to by Layard in his notes, were catching bees on the wing, and also by darting at them as they issued 
from their hive ; they sat on the dead branches of a tree, and raised and depressed their crests, and this they 
have the power of doing vertically, like the Crested Swift (Dendrochelidon coronata ). Layard’s specimen had 
a Lizard (C alotes viridis ) in its stomach ; and one of my birds, which was shot by Mr. Chas. Byrde, sitting in 
a jack-tree near the Rest House at Pasyala, had been feeding on Coleoptera. I know nothing of its note, nor 
can I find any thing recorded concerning it. 
Jerdon writes of it in the f Birds of India ’ : — “ It is almost entirely insectivorous in its habits, and keeps 
to the forests or well-wooded districts. It takes only short flights, and certainly is not usually seen soaring 
high in the air, as Mr. Gray says in his ‘ Genera of Birds.’ " 
Comparatively little is known concerning any of the Malayan members of this interesting genus, conspi- 
cuous in which, for its singular and beautiful plumage, is the present species. It is therefore to be hoped 
that naturalists in India and Ceylon will, when they have the good fortune to come upon it in their wanderings, 
pay particular attention to its actions and habits, as far as their opportunity will permit of. 
