will also eat lizards. The prey is usually pounced upon as it goes down to the water to drink, yet even then, so slow and apathetic is this bird in its behaviour, that an attempt to seize the victim often proves abortive. We are entirely destitute of particulars as to the incubation of this species. THE SERPENT HAWK. The SERPENT HAWK (_Polyboroides typicus_) is a very remarkable member of the Hawk family, inhabiting the same parts of Africa as the bird last mentioned; a very similar species is also met with in Madagascar. The Serpent Hawk is recognisable by the smallness of its head and body, bare cheeks, slender beak, and enormous wings; the tail is long, broad, and slightly rounded; the tarsi high and thin, and the toes small. The plumage is dark greyish blue upon the upper portion of the body, front of neck, and breast; the primary quills are black, the upper secondaries grey, with a black spot near the tip; the tail-feathers are black tipped with white, and have a broad white streak across the middle. The belly, hose, and tail-covers are white, delicately marked with black. The eye is brown, the beak black, the feet lemon colour, the cere and bare patches round the eyes pale yellow. The male bird is one foot eleven inches and a half long, and four feet four inches across the span of the wings; these latter are sixteen and the tail eleven inches in length; the tarsus measures three inches and a quarter, and the middle toe not more than one and a half. This species is met with throughout the woodland districts of Eastern Soudan, where it frequents such localities as are in the immediate vicinity of water, as it there finds in abundance the reptiles on which it principally subsists. The manner in which this Hawk obtains its prey is very remarkable, as it is enabled to draw its victims from their holes by the aid of a most curious contrivance; the tarsus is so constructed as to allow the foot to be turned in all directions, backwards as well as to the sides, and the claws being comparatively small, the leg can be introduced through a very narrow aperture; it is then moved rapidly into every recess and cranny of the hole, to the inevitable discovery of its helpless occupant. The Serpent Hawks rarely pass much time upon the wing, and, indeed, do little more than fly from one tree to another, exhibiting in all their habits that sluggish and unsocial temperament common to most reptile-eating birds; they live for the most part alone, and spend their time in perching lazily on a bough, or flitting from tree to tree. Verreaux tells us that they will sometimes pursue small birds or quadrupeds. * * * * *