HAWKS, Kites, etc.
Faucon, FnHalcon, SP Habicht, Falke, . GER. Atmaja, . . Tome.
Falcone, . . . . IT.
Eagles, hawks, kites, etc., are all classed by naturalists under the sub-families Accipitrinm or hawks, Aquilinm or eagles, Buteoninas or buzzards, Falconinas or falcons, and Milvinm or kites, etc., all of the family Falconiche. They fly well, take their prey on the wing, feed on small mammals, birds, reptiles, fishes, and insects ; almost all are solitary and monogamous. Many of them are common to Great Britain and the E. Indies, as the peregrine and other falcons, the merlins, and kestrel. Astur trivirgatus, the goshawk, occurs in the hilly parts of Nepal, India, and the Malay countries. A. palumbarius is a native of Europe and the Sub-Himalaya. The kestrel is occasionally observed in extraordinary abundance, and har riers (Circus) are often seen beating over the open ground. In Lower Bengal, kites quit Calcutta and neighbourhood during the rains and return in the cold weather. It is supposed that they go to the N.E. to breed. The kestrel, baza, and Indian hobby are most frequent in Bengal during the rains. In Bengal, the kites and Brahmany kites breed chiefly in January and February, and disappear during the rains ; but adjutants appear as soon as the rains set in, and, becoming in fine plumage towards the close of the rains, depart at that time to breed in the eastern portion of the Sunderbuns, and along the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal, upon lofty trees and rocks. In the island of Born. bay, on the approach of the monsoon, nearly all the kites, hawks, vultures, and other carrion birds disappear from the sea-coast ; 1310 the crows begin to build their nests and hatch their young just at the season that seems most unsuitable for incuba tion, when the eggs are often shaken out, or the nests themselves are destroyed, by the violence and inclemency of rain and tempest. Carnivorous birds, as the rains approach, betake themselves to the comparatively dry air of the Dekhan, where they nestle and bring forth in comfort, and find food and shelter for their little ones. The scenes which follow the conclusion of the rains are curious enough. While the Mahomedans bury,
and the Hindus burn their dead, the Parsee race expose their dead in large cylindrical roofless structures, called towers of silence, where birds of prey at all times find an abundant repast. Their family cares and anxieties over for the season, the carrion birds, which had left in May for the Dekhan, return in October to Bombay, and make at once for the usual scenes, now stored with a three months' supply of untasted food. As they appear in clouds approaching from the mainland, the crows, unwilling that their dominions should be invaded, hasten in flocks to meet them, and a battle ensues in the air, loud, fierce, and noisy ; the fluttering of the wings, the screaming and cawing of the combatants, resounding over the island, till the larger birds succeed, and, having gained the victory, are suffered henceforth to live in peace.
In Ceylon, the beautiful peregrine falcon, Falco peregrinus, Linn., is rare, but the kestrel, Tinnun culus alaudarius, Briss., is everwhere found ; and the bold and daring goshawk, Astur trivirgatus, Temm., is seen wherever wild crags and precipices afford safe breeding places. In the district of Anaradhpura, where it is trained for hawking, it is usual, in lieu of a hood, to darken its eyes by means of a silken thread passed through holes in the eyelids. The ignoble birds of prey the kites, Milvus govinda, Sykes, keep close by the shore, and hover round the returning boats of tho fisher men, to feast on the fry rejected from their nets. Accipiter trinotatus is a beautiful hawk of Celebes, with elegant rows of large round white spots on the tail.—Tennant's Ceylon, p. 24G ; Dr. Buist in Bombay Times; Mr. Blyth, Z.,' in Indian Field. See Eagles.
HAY.
Novi, Dux. Fend, Pon.
Foil] FR. Sycno, Rus.
Hew, GER. Reno, SP.
Ghana, . . • GU. IIS, . Sw., DAN. Sukha ghana, . . Hum. Wolanda pillu, . .
Fiend, Pr. Endu pachika, . . TEL..
FugiUm, . • . LAT. Kara Ot, • . • TURK.
Any kind of grass out and dried for the food of horses, cattle, etc.—A/Ws/loch; Faulkner.