and persecution. Taxonomy and etymology The bateleur has been found to be a proper member of the subfamily Circaetinae, commonly called snake or serpent eagles, via a variety of genetic studies. Given the outward similarities of the bateleur to snake eagles, the relationship has long been inferred by authors. In particular, the bateleur was suggested to have their closest living relations in the similarly large Circaetus snake eagles. This relationship was well borne-out by a genetic study that found that this species and the short-toed snake eagle (Circaetus gallicus) form a monophyletic clade, based on nucleotide sequences in the cytochrome b gene. Even though, when contrasted with snake eagles, bateleurs appear to differ greatly in plumage patterns, the two genera show certain similarities in food, feeding behavior, and breeding biology. However, Lerner and Mindell (2005), based on the molecular sequence from two mitochondrial genes and one nuclear intron, indicated a previously unsuspected close relationship of the bateleur with similarly “aberrant” but extremely different, in nearly every respect of appearance and life history, member of the Circaetinae, the Philippine eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi). Chromosome banding studies have also found a relatively recent genetic relationship of the bateleurs with the Old World vultures. The common name of "Bateleur" is French for "street performer". Meanwhile, the scientific name is from name teras (Greek) for “marvelous”; ops (Greek) for “face”; e (Latin) for “without”; caudatus (Latin) “tail”. The bird was given its common name by François Levaillant, a French naturalist and explorer. The original scientific name was Falco ecaudatus, given by François Marie Daudin, as the concept of disparate genera between birds of prey was devised later on (nor were falcons then known to be unrelated to many other variety of diurnal birds of prey). Description The bateleur is of note for its unique morphology and plumage, with some anatomical similarities to both snake eagles and vultures. The species has a thick neck and a very large, rather conspicuously cowled head with a proportionately short bill, albeit one covered with a very large cere. The cowl is also present on snake eagles but in those it is less dramatically apparent. The other features in perched adult bateleurs are rather oddly stumpy, such as the short legs and exceptionally short tail, possibly the shortest proportionately of all raptors. Its posture while perched is extremely upright, making them look like quite a tall raptor on the ground