useful, and destroys large or venomous snakes. Furthermore, the custom of darting upon the prey from some post of vantage remains to be noticed. The nest, commonly situated in trees, is equally often in rocks; those selected not being necessarily lofty, but frequently mere outcrops on the sides of hill-valleys, in which case access is easy even without a rope. The materials used are much the same as in the case of the Golden Eagle, but finer; a like fancy being shewn for green foliage, though ivy and so forth take the place of pine-shoots, as being more readily obtainable. The eggs are white or greenish, commonly blotched or spotted to a greater or less extent with dark brown, red, or lilac; the hen sits very closely, the cock meanwhile soaring above the intruder's head, and uttering his characteristic cat-like mew. _B. desertorum_, of all Africa, South-East Europe, and the countries to India inclusive, which has been {166}recorded three times in England, is smaller and more decidedly rufous than _B. vulgaris_, though hardly distinguishable when immature; while the bigger _B. ferox_ of similar range, though apparently limited in Africa to the North, is closely allied; as are _B. plumipes_, extending from India to Japan (of which _B. leucocephalus_ is a large and probably distinct form) and _B. swainsoni_ of North America, which migrates as far south as Patagonia, and has almost uniform upper parts and chest. _B. borealis_, the "Red-tailed Hawk," occupying with its various races the whole of North America, has a rufous tail with lighter tip and usually a single blackish band, the breast being sooty-black or white, with or without a reddish tinge; _B. albicaudatus_, reaching from Texas to Brazil, is slaty-grey, with rusty markings on the mantle, white under parts and tail, the latter showing grey bars and a wide subterminal black cross-belt; while _B. abbreviatus_, found from the southern United States to northern South America, is almost black, with three broad grey and white zones across the rectrices. _B. augur_ and _B. auguralis_, both from North-East and West Africa, with _B. jakal_ of South Africa, have the upper parts black, some grey on the wings, and the tail chestnut except near the end. The first has a black throat with white streaks and white lower surface, the second a red-brown chest and black spots on the belly, the third is black below with a whitish pectoral patch. Finally, omitting several American species from want of space, _B. brachypterus_–a miniature Common Buzzard–is peculiar to Madagascar, _B. galapagensis_ to the Galapagos, _B. exsul_ to Masafuera, _B. poliosomus_ to Chili, Patagonia, and the Falklands.