HARRIER-EA GLES. 
213 
frequenting open districts rather than forests. In Abyssinia, where it is by no 
means abundant, it has been obtained from considerable elevations in the 
mountains. Mr. Blanford describes them “ as soaring at a great height, their pointed 
wings and extremely short tail rendering them no less conspicuous than the 
contrast between the white under side of the wings and the black body. The 
flight is superb, more like that of a vulture than of an eagle, as the bird sweeps 
along with motionless wings, occasionally high up in the air, but more frequently 
at about one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet above the ground.” 
Awakening with the first streaks of dawn, it leaves the trees on which it has 
roosted during the night in search of food, and after hunting for some hours 
seeks a resting-place in which to pass the hottest portion of the day, issuing forth 
again to hunt in the evening. Levaillant states that these eagles prey upon young 
antelopes, lambs, and sick sheep, and that they will also eat carrion; while Heuglin 
mentions them as feeding largely upon the smaller mammals. Their chief food 
consists, however, of various snakes and lizards, of which they are said to consume 
a larger amount than the secretary vulture. Snakes of all size, whether venomous 
or harmless, are attacked by the bateleur, and speedily disabled by rapid blows from 
its powerful beak. At such times as the grass-jungles are on fire, the bateleur, like 
the other serpent-eating birds of Central Africa, beats along the line of flame in 
order to seize the snakes and other reptiles, as they creep out, sometimes dashing 
into the very thick of the smoke to secure its prey. The nest of these birds is 
usually built in a tall tree, and frequently in those whose boughs are thickly beset 
with thorns. It contains from two to four white eggs. The breeding-season takes 
place at the commencement of the hot weather, when the snakes are more easily 
captured than when the grass is long and rank. 
h ^ The remaining members of the Aquiline subfamily in which the 
metatarsus is partially bare have the naked portion longer than in the 
preceding group, and either equal in length to, or longer than the third toe, exclusive 
of the claw. Of the several genera thus characterised, the buzzard-eagles ( Batastur ), 
which range from India, China, and Japan through the Malayan region to New 
Guinea, and also occur in North-Eastern Africa, differ from the rest in having the 
oval nostrils provided with a membrane above; the others having a clean bony 
margin to these organs. Omitting mention of three unimportant genera, severally 
represented by a single species, we find the harrier-eagles characterised by the 
nostrils taking the form of transverse ovals, by the feathers of the small crest being 
of a lance-like shape, and by the elongation of the wing. The long tail is nearly 
even, the metatarsus long and reticulate, and the short beak somewhat compressed 
and deeply hooked at the extremity, while the toes are very short. Most of the 
few species of this genus are confined to Africa, but the common harrier-eagle 
(Circaetus gallicus ) has a much wider distribution, ranging from the countries 
bordering the Mediterranean to India, and the small islands of Timor and Flores, 
and being sometimes found in Central Europe. They are usually met with in open 
plains, living much on the wing, and feeding chiefly on snakes and other reptiles; and 
in appearance and habits resembling the buzzards, with which they are connected by 
the above-mentioned buzzarcl-eagles. The common harrier-eagle, represented in the 
illustration on next page, is one of the smaller members of the group, the females 
