PANDION. 4] 
Further southwards, along the shore of Western Mexico, Xantus found P. haliaetus 
at Colima 1°, and Sumichrast on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec 1’. 
On the eastern coast of Mexico the Osprey no doubt occurs from the Rio Grande to 
Yucatan and the islands off the coast. From the interior of Mexico we have not so 
many records; but Herrera tells us?! that he obtained specimens at various times at 
Xochimilco, in the valley of Mexico, and that he was informed that the Osprey also 
occurred on the lake of Chalco, and that it arrives in September or October. It feeds 
on the fishes of the valley, each bird eating daily one or two Antherina humboldti and 
many small fish, leaving the heads of the larger kinds. Batrachians and other aquatic 
animals are not touched. ‘The natives say that it chases and kills Kingfishers, but 
never devours them. 
On the coast of British Honduras this species is very abundant, and one of the first 
birds Salvin secured on landing at Belize in December 1857 ® was an Osprey, which, 
flying over the forest at the back of the town with a fish in its talons, fell to a charge 
of small shot. Nearly every one of the cays which stud this coast has its pair of 
Ospreys, and on Tobacco Cay, on the barrier-reef, Salvin saw a large nest which seemed 
to have been occupied for several years and added to from time to time 1. 
When visiting the Pacific coast of Guatemala in 1863 Salvin again found this species 
in numbers—every lagoon inside the beach was tenanted by a pair. This was from 
San José and Champerico to Huamuchal near the frontier of Soconusco. 
The most recent account of the Osprey in North America is given by Bendire ?? in 
his ‘ Life Histories of North-American Birds,’ and Dr. Fisher has also drawn up a good 
summary of the observations concerning it?4. As is well known, it builds a huge nest 
of sticks, and lays as many as three eggs, which are varied in shape and colour, the 
latter consisting of heavy blotches of various sizes and shades of a rich brown and 
vinous red on a whitish ground. 
The American Osprey was separated from the European by Gmelin in the last 
century®, and since then opinions have differed as to whether it is really distinct or not. 
Most American writers now call it Pandion haliaetus carolinensis, but Dr. Coues and 
Dr. Sharpe unite both forms under Linneus’s title P. haliaetus. The trifling larger 
size and the presence generally of a few less spots on the breast are all the characters 
that can be assigned to the American bird. 
Fam. FALCONIDA *. 
Im the following arrangement of the Falconide we adhere to a great extent to the 
system of the ‘Nomenclator Avium Neotropicalium,’ which does not very materially 
differ from that adopted by Mr. Ridgway in his paper on the outlines of a natural 
* At Mr. Salvin’s death the MS. of the Falconide was in a forward state. It has been continued with the 
assistance of Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe. ° 
BIOL. CENTR.-AMER., Aves, Vol. III., June 1899. 6 
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