to be assorted gamebirds, with most common guineafowl, spurfowl and francolin, smaller available species of bustard and some quail known in their diet. The largest of these avian prey species attacked by bateleurs top out around . The reason for the disinterest in mid-sized to large avian prey of sizes comparable to some mammals and reptiles known to have been taken by bateleurs is not clear, as the bateleur does not in general appear to shy away from difficult-to-capture birds nor to large and dangerous prey of other animal classes. The bateleur was once reported to be a very common predator of reptiles like their cousins the snake eagles. Although this is somewhat erroneous, bateleurs do not infrequently include reptiles in their diet. As much as 30% of the diet can be reptilian, mainly snakes. Some reptiles taken are small and innocuous such as a few species of plated lizards and a few species of colubrid snakes. However, like their cousins, the bateleur does not seem to shy away from venomous snakes nor other large or formidable reptiles. They have been known to take puff adder (Bitis arietans), boomslangs (Dispholidus typus), Egyptian cobras (Naja haje) and unidentified mambas, with the latter actually reported to be the most prominent known reptile prey in compilation studies, accounting for 18.9% of reported reptile prey and 3.35% of total prey. However, the bateleur is not immune to venom nor is as well specialized to dispatching venomous snakes as are snake eagles and, in one case, a mutual killing recorded between a puff adder and a bateleur was reported. Sizable, and far from defenseless, if not venomous reptiles known in the prey spectrum may include monitor lizards including Nile (Varanus niloticus) and savannah monitors (Varanus exanthematicus), some terrapins and tortoises and African rock pythons (Python sebae), although excepting small, young ones, these types of reptilian prey are perhaps in many cases consumed after they are already deceased, such as via roadkills. However, live predation of a tortoise by a bateleur was witnessed in one instance. The bateleur known to carry snakes to the nest in the style of ordinary snake eagles, with the dead snake being half swallowed and subsequently extracted by the capturing birds mate, usually the female at the nest. Seldom identified prey may include assorted, and almost entirely unidentified, insects. Mostly swarming social insects seem to attract bateleurs, including locusts. It was