That most abnormal form Rostrhamus sociabilis, the Awl-billed or Everglade Kite, ranging from Florida and Cuba to Bolivia and Argentina, is slaty-black, with white base and tip to the brownish emarginate tail, orange cere and feet, and crimson irides. The extraordinarily slender bill with long terminal hook no doubt assists greatly in extracting from their shells the molluscs, such as Ampullaria, on which this species entirely subsists, while its long legs and sharp talons help to secure the prey in the muddy swamps it frequents. Mr. Gibson[[140]] tells us that it is to some extent gregarious, and is often seen slowly beating over the marshes, or poised aloft with its broad expanded tail alone in motion, a "creaking" or "neighing" alarm-note being apparently the only cry. Twenty or thirty nests are commonly built close together, and are slight platforms of twigs or plant-stems, with a lining of aquatic herbage, supported on the reeds or bushes a few feet above the water. The two or three eggs are whitish with reddish- or yellowish-brown and grey blotches. The breeding-quarters are constantly changed.
Machaerorhamphus alcinus, of Tenasserim, Malacca, Borneo, Sumatra, and New Guinea, is especially remarkable for the wide gape of the short bill, which recalls that of the Caprimulgidae. All the tail-coverts are unusually elongated, a fine crest of pointed feathers adorns the occiput, and the plumage is black with a chocolate tinge, the throat and middle of the chest being white, with a broad black streak down the former. M. anderssoni, of Damara-Land, the Cameroons, and Madagascar, known to have crepuscular tendencies and to feed partly on bats, is smaller, and has a white abdomen; M. revoili, of Somali-Land, is intermediate.
Pernis apivorus, the Honey-Buzzard, which still breeds occasionally in Britain in June, when the dense foliage easily causes it to be overlooked, inhabits Europe generally, and probably extends to Japan, migrating in winter to Madagascar and South Africa. The extremely complex phases of plumage make it uncertain whether it shares the Indian Region with the similar but crested P. ptilorhynchus (cristatus), from which P. tweeddalii, of Sumatra, is doubtfully separable. The upper parts are brown, with greyish head and three or four dark bands on the tail, the lower white with brown spots and bars. White mottlings usually shew above, and the female has the crown brown. The shortly-feathered lores distinguish Pernis from Buteo. Our woodland species feeds upon the ground, and devours bees, wasps, and grubs–though not honey–from the comb, together with small mammals, birds, slugs, and worms; the cry is shrill, but seldom heard; the nest, composed of sticks lined with leaves, contains two or three whitish eggs with rich purplish-red or brown markings. P. celebensis differs in the rufous chest, which exhibits black streaks, that are continued to the white throat with its black longitudinal band; the adult closely resembles Limnaëtus lanceolatus, both being peculiar to Celebes. Henicopernis longicaudatus, of Papuasia, is brown barred with black above, and white streaked with blackish below, the tail shewing five black bands; H. infuscatus, of New Britain, is a darker race. Regerhinus uncinatus, and the larger R. megarhynchus, found from Central America to Bolivia and Brazil, are dusky slate-coloured with a white tail-bar; R. wilsoni, of Cuba, has a yellow bill; R. (Leptodon) cayennensis is glossy black, with grey head, wing and tail-bands, and white lower surface. Immature birds are brown, with rufous and white streaks or bars below.
Sub-fam. 6. Falconinae.–The true Falcons are remarkable for a notched maxilla, while Harpagus and the crested Baza, aberrant members of the group, and sometimes classed with the Kites, exhibit two "teeth." B. lophotes, of India, Ceylon, and the Malay countries, is greenish-black above, varied with white and chestnut on the wings; the fore-neck being white, and the breast shewing a band of black above one of chestnut, which is barred with buff towards the black vent. B. verreauxi, occurring from the Zambesi to Natal, is dark brownish-grey, with four black bars on the white-tipped tail, and rufous bands across the white breast and under wing-coverts; B. cuculoïdes, of West Africa, having the latter plain rufous. The somewhat similar B. subcristata occupies North-East Australia, B. rufa inhabits the Moluccas and Papuasia, B. timorlaensis Timor-laut, B. erythrothorax Celebes and the Sula Islands, B. magnirostris the Philippines, B. borneensis Borneo, B. leucopais Paláwan, B. sumatrensis Sumatra, Tenasserim, and Sikkim, B. ceylonensis Ceylon and South-East India, B. madagascariensis Madagascar, and B. reinwardti, with grey-barred breast, the Moluccas, Timor, and Papuasia. Comparatively little is known of the habits of these shy forest forms, which occasionally soar, feed upon the ground on chamaeleons, grasshoppers and other insects, build small nests, and lay about three whitish eggs with brown markings. Harpagus diodon, of British Guiana and Brazil, is grey, with brown wings and tail barred with whitish, white throat with a black streak, rufous thighs and under wing-coverts. H. bidentatus, extending from Panama to Brazil and Peru, has chestnut under parts, H. fasciatus being hardly separable.
Of the tiny eastern "Finch-falcons," Microhierax fringillarius, inhabiting the Malay Peninsula and Great Sunda Islands, is bluish-black, with rufous throat and abdomen, the breast, forehead, a stripe down each side of the neck, and partial bars on the wings and tail being white. It is a bold dashing species, which feeds upon insects and birds–even as large as quails, and lays four white eggs in holes in trees upon a bed of chips, leaves, and insect-débris. M. latifrons, of Borneo and the Nicobars, has a much wider frontal band; M. melanoleucus of Assam and Cachar, M. erythrogenys of the Philippines, and M. sinensis of China are quite white below; but the second has black thighs and the third a white nape, a character shared by M. eutolmus, ranging from India to Cambodia, wherein the throat and abdomen are chestnut. Poliohierax semitorquatus, little bigger than the foregoing, inhabits North-East and South Africa, the male being blue-grey with white forehead, cheeks, nape, rump, under parts and markings on the remiges and rectrices; P. insignis of Borneo and Siam is larger, with black shaft-stripes, but no white collar. The females have the mantle, and in the last-named the crown, chestnut. The African species rarely soars, but haunts low trees and bushes, occasionally flocking, and feeding on mice, small birds, lizards, and coleopterous insects. Spiziapteryx circumcinctus, of Chili and Argentina, is brown above and whitish below, with numerous dark streaks; the white eyebrows meet at the nape, and white spots and bands mark the remiges and lateral rectrices.
Dissodectes ardesiacus, of Arabia, North-East and West Africa, is slate-coloured with dark shaft-stripes, the wing-quills being brown and the tail interruptedly barred with whitish. D. dickinsoni of Benguela, the Shiré and Rovuma valleys, is brown with pale head and white rump; D. zoniventris of Madagascar has dark bands on the mantle and on the white under parts. Hieracidea (Harpa) novae zealandiae, the Quail Hawk of New Zealand and the Chatham Islands, is dark brown with rufous and grey barring above; the crown and nape being blacker, the tail shewing eight whitish bands, and the creamy-white lower surface and fulvous thigh-region exhibiting streaks of brown. It may be seen soaring over the plains and lower hills, hovering with expanded tail, or pouncing like an arrow on the rodents, birds, and lizards which form its food. Insects too are captured on the wing, and poultry fiercely attacked. The cry is screaming; the eggs resemble those of the Peregrine Falcon, and are deposited in hollows scraped on rocky ledges, or occasionally in rough nests among thick creepers. A smaller and bolder race has been termed H. ferox or brunnea, the Bush-Hawk. H. berigora of Australia and New Guinea has brown upper parts, with rufous markings that become bands on the white-tipped tail, creamy under parts streaked with brown, and chestnut thighs. H. orientalis of the same countries lacks the red tints, H. novae guineae of New Guinea is less spotted. These three Kestrel-like birds love swampy districts, and devour small mammals, birds, frogs, lizards, newts, insects, and even carrion; being valuable allies in caterpillar-plagues, but farmyard pests at ordinary times. The nest of sticks, lined with bark or leaves, is placed in trees, the three or four whitish eggs are blotched with reddish-brown.
The nearly cosmopolitan genus Tinnunculus (Kestrel), so called from its querulous "bell-like" note, is separated from Falco rather by pattern of colour than structural considerations. T. alaudarius, the most plentiful of the British Falconidae–which is occasionally seen in winter near its breeding-quarters, though chiefly a summer immigrant–ranges from the Atlantic Islands and lat. 68° N. in Europe, through Asia to Japan and China, reaching Fantee and Mombasa in Africa, and having been once recorded from Massachusetts in America. The sub-species neglectus, japonicus, and saturatus are darker than the type; wherein the male is chiefly bluish-grey above, and buff with black spots and streaks below; the chestnut back being spotted with black, and the white-tipped tail having a broad subterminal black band. The female has rufous upper parts, with dark bars continued down the tail. The Kestrel or Wind-hover is a shy arboreal bird of somewhat crepuscular tendencies, generally observed circling gracefully aloft in readiness to drop upon its prey, or "hovering" with rapid vibrations of the long wings, the tail expanded and the head to windward. Small mammals and coleoptera furnish most of the food, a few birds–very seldom game–lizards, frogs, worms, grasshoppers, and insect-larvae varying the diet. Its great utility is now generally recognised, while sensible keepers should be fast learning that all Hawks and Owls are not vermin. It rarely builds its own nest, but occupies deserted habitations of Crows, Pies, and other birds, relined sparingly with twigs and grass, or scrapes a cup in the soil of some ledge or cavity of a cliff. At times hollow trees, ruins, and chalk-pits are chosen, or even level ground in the fens–pellets of bones, feathers, fur, and beetles' elytra commonly marking the spot. The four to six eggs are creamy-white, blotched or thickly mottled with bright or dull red. T. cenchris, the Lesser Kestrel, with white claws, and unspotted back in the male, has four or five times wandered to England, and ranges from the Pyrenees, Styria, and the Orenburg district to Bokhara and North Africa. It sometimes occurs further north, and in winter reaches Cape Colony; the Indian and Chinese race, distinguished as T. pekinensis, having strayed to the Transvaal. T. sparverius, the "Sparrow-Hawk" of America from the Great Slave Lake to Colombia, which occasionally feeds on snakes, and breeds in Woodpeckers' holes, has two sub-species, T. cinnamominus of Central and South America and T. caribbaearum of the Antilles. T. dominicensis (sparverioïdes) inhabits Cuba and St. Domingo, and occurs in Florida; T. isabellinus ranges from Georgia to northern South America; T. alopex from Nubia to Bogos-Land; T. rupicolus and the more northern T. rupicoloïdes occupy South Africa; T. gracilis the Seychelles; T. punctatus Mauritius; T. newtoni Madagascar; T. moluccensis the Moluccas and the Sunda Islands; T. cenchroïdes Australia and Tasmania. It is remarkable that no Kestrel inhabits Jamaica or Bourbon, though Cuba and Mauritius are respectively so near them.
Erythropus vespertinus, the Red-footed Falcon, which wanders to Britain, but breeds from Eastern Europe and Algeria to Krasnoiarsk, where it meets the Eastern Asiatic E. amurensis, is lead-grey in the male, with browner tail, chestnut thighs and vent region; the female being barred with blackish above, and having the head, nape, and under surface rufous. The cere, orbits, and feet are red. Both forms migrate to South Africa, keeping more to the west and east respectively; the latter, which crosses India and Burma, being distinguished in the male by white under wing-coverts, and in the female by the absence of rufous on the head, neck, and brown-spotted breast. In general habits like Kestrels, these birds are more gregarious, and breed in company.
Hypotriorchis subbuteo, the Hobby, nests sporadically in England, and extends thence to North Africa and Japan, occurring in the Canaries and migrating to South Africa, North India, and China. Both sexes are slate-coloured, having buff lower parts with black streaks, reddish vent, white throat and sides of the neck, and a black stripe down the latter. This bold and dashing little Falcon, easily recognisable by the extremely long wings, which give it a Swift-like appearance, is usually seen poised aloft, or rapidly pursuing the insects and birds which form its food. The note is shrill; the three to five eggs resemble closely freckled pinkish specimens of those of the Kestrel, and are deposited late in the season in disused birds' nests. The statement that it broods on the eggs of the Kestrel needs further proof. H. eleonorae, the largest Old World species of the genus, occupying the Mediterranean basin from Spain and the Atlas to the Levant, while straying to Mauritius, is uniform sooty-black; but some individuals never become sooty, and immature examples precisely resemble the Hobby. The habits are like those of its congener, but the two or three eggs are larger, and are laid in holes in cliffs, or upon the bare soil on stony flats of desolate islands. The very similar H. concolor ranges from the Red Sea to Madagascar; H. cuvieri inhabits the Ethiopian Region; H. ophryophanes is described from Colonia; H. severus extends from India and Ceylon to New Britain, but not to Australia; H. lunulatus from Flores to the Duke of York Island, with Australia and Tasmania; H. fusco-caerulescens and H. rufigularis from Mexico to Argentina, the former moreover reaching the southern United States and Patagonia. The powerful H. diroleucus–perhaps referable to the genus Falco–occurs from South Mexico to Peru and Brazil.
Aesalon regulus, the Merlin, called the Stone-Falcon from its habit of perching on rocks, is a lively and interesting little species, daring yet confiding, which preys chiefly upon small birds, and flies less swiftly than the Hobby, though both are used for Lark-hawking. The shrill note is chiefly heard at the breeding-quarters, which in Britain are generally on steep hill-slopes, especially where stony outcrops break the heather or grass; from four to six eggs–duller and less blotched than those of the Kestrel, being deposited in a hole scraped in the bare ground. Abroad–and exceptionally in Scotland–old nests in trees or rocky ledges are utilized, and the bird is perhaps occasionally its own architect. Fairly common north of Derbyshire its summer range extends over the moorlands from Shetland to Devonshire, and includes Ireland, while it visits the sea-coast in autumn. It occurs accidentally in Greenland, and reaches thence to the Pyrenees and the Alps, being found across Northern and Central Europe and Asia, and migrating to North Africa, North India, and South China. The male is slaty-blue with rusty nape and under surface, and is streaked with dusky throughout; the throat is white, as is the tip of the tail, which, besides six imperfect bars, shows a broad sub-terminal black band. The dark brown female has the lower parts white, the rectrices exhibiting eight light bars. In the very similar Ae. columbarius, the "Pigeon Hawk" of North America, extending to Venezuela and Ecuador, the tail-bars in the respective sexes are four and six. This species and the following usually build in trees, using twigs, roots, grass, and moss for their nests. Ae. (Chicquera) typus, the Indian "Turumti," is a larger bird, both male and female being grey above and white below, with red head and dark barring nearly throughout, while Ethiopian Ae. (C.) ruficollis is slightly less striped.