132 TlMEHRl. 
etc., on which it chiefly feeds. Though a fierce and 
rapacious creature, this little hawk is slenderly and 
slightly built, being the most delicate looking of all our 
species. 
Very different from all the preceding is the white- 
breasted or black-faced chicken-hawk, the laughing falcon, 
Herpttotheres cachinnans, so commonly met with on 
the coast and on the outskirts of the town. This is a 
heavily built and strong bird of about 18 inches in length, 
with strong and thick bill and feet, It is of a yellowish 
brown colour above and a yellowish-white below, the 
head and a collar round the neck being of this latter tint, 
though the feathers of the head, which form an erectile 
crest, are more or less streaked with brown on the shaft. 
A peculiarly fierce aspect is given to this bird by the 
presence of a broad black patch around the eyes, passing 
across the cheek and around the back of the head. The 
wings and tail are narrowly barred with brown and 
yellowish white, the quills of the wings having a con- 
spicuous patch owing to their yellowish-white bases. This 
bird differs markedly from all the true falcons, in the absence 
of any tooth from the upper mandible, this portion of 
the bill being simply sharply festooned, and the tip 
suddenly hooked. The tarsus is feathered much as in the 
kites, though the greater portion is bare, but the wings 
are short and quite unlike the long and pointed wings 
found in the kites and their allies. 
This hawk, as its name indicates, is particularly fond 
of reptiles for food, — lizards and snakes, the latter 
especially, being its main diet, though chickens from 
the poultry yard have not infrequently been known to 
be carried off, — hence its common name of chicken-hawk. 
