_Leucopternis_ is a genus of eleven members, of which _L. ghiesbreghti_, of Central America, is snowy-white, with most of the wings and a zone on the tail black. The other forms, whereof three inhabit Brazil, are black or slate-coloured above with white markings, the lower surface being grey in _L. plumbea_ of Ecuador and Panama and _L. schistacea_ of Colombia and Amazonia, but barred with black and white in _L. princeps_, of Costa Rica. _Urubitinga zonura_, a black bird with white tip and base to the tail, ranges from Mexico to Chili and Argentina; {168}_U. anthracina_, found from Arizona and Texas to northern South America, has in addition a white belt across the rectrices. The crested _Harpyhaliaëtus coronatus_, extending from Bolivia and Brazil to Patagonia, a powerful and savage bird with a taste for carrion, is chocolate-brown, with grey on the wing, and a tail like that of the last species; _H. solitarius_, darker in colour and doubtfully distinct, reaching Mexico northwards. _Heterospizias meridionalis_, of northern South America to Bolivia and Paraguay, is mottled with rufous, grey, and black, and has two white bands on the tail. _Buteogallus aequinoctialis_, of Guiana and Colombia, is black relieved with rusty above, and reddish with black bars below, the remiges being chiefly chestnut, and the tail indistinctly barred with white. _Busarellus nigricollis_, of Guiana and Brazil, is brighter chestnut with black streaks, the head being buffish, the lower throat, primaries, and most of the tail black. It has a harsh cry, and loves sitting on stumps near water, while the rugose soles of the feet assist it to secure the fishes and molluscs on which it–as well as _Buteogallus_–feeds. Of the forms with comparatively weaker feet, _Haliastur indus_, the "Brahminy Kite" or "Pondicherry Eagle," reaching from the Indian Region to Australia and New Guinea, is chestnut with darker wings, the white head, neck, and lower parts being streaked with black; _H. sphenurus_, of the two latter countries and New Caledonia, named by colonists the "Whistling Kite," is ashy-brown, with rufous head and ochraceous breast striped with brown. The note is shrill, the flight easy and buoyant, the food composed of garbage, small mammals, birds, lizards, frogs, crustaceans, insects and their larvae; while fish are secured by grasping them with one foot during gliding movements along the surface of the water. The Australian species attacks poultry, but is of great utility in devouring caterpillars during insect-plagues. The nest of twigs, lined with grass, roots, hair, or green leaves, is adorned with rags and the like, the two or three eggs being greenish-white, rarely with rusty markings.