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 {174}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.