386 
WHITE-TAILED HAWK. 
known to visit the opposite shores of Italy, Spain, or Turkey, 
nor has it been met with in any other part of Europe. 
When at rest, it is generally seen perched on high bushes, 
where the pure white of the lower parts of its body renders it 
very conspicuous at a distance. It utters a sharp piercing cry, 
which is often repeated, especially when on the wing, though 
Mr Peale assures us that our individual uttered no cry. Like 
its closely related species, it does not attack small birds, except 
for the purpose of driving them from its favourite food, which 
consists of hemipterous insects, chiefly of the Gn/ZZws and Man- 
tis genera, as well as other insects, and some reptiles. In the 
stomach of our specimen, however, Mr Peale found, besides 
the usual food, fragments of an Arvicola hispidus^ and one or 
two feathers, apparently of a sparrow : but it is not a cowardly 
bird, as might be suspected from its affinity to the kites, and 
from its insignificant prey, since it successfully attacks crows, 
shrikes, and even the more timid birds of its own genus, com- 
pelling them to quit its favourite haunts, which it guards with 
a vigilant eye. They build in the bifurcation of trees. The 
nest is broad and shallow, lined internally with moss and fea- 
thers. The female is stated to lay four or five eggs ; the nest- 
lings at first are covered with down, of a reddish-grey colour. 
The African species is said to diffuse a musky odour, which 
is retained even after the skin is prepared for the museum ; 
but we are inclined to believe, that it is in the latter state only 
that it possesses this quality. Mr Peale did not observe any 
such odour in the bird he shot, but being obliged, for want of 
better food, to make his dinner of it in the woods, found it not 
unpalatable. 
