168 



AVES. 



Tig. 75.— White-headed Erne. 



[The Golden Eagle (F. chri/saetos, Lin.), the Grecian Eagle (A. Heliaca, Savigny ; F. imperialis, Tem.), the 

 Spotted Eagle (F. nxvius and maculatus, Gm.), the Social Eagle (A. Bonelli, Bonap.), and the Little Eagle 



(F. pennatus, Gm.), are the European species, which suc- 

 cessively decrease in size in the order announced ; the 

 last-named being smaller than a Common Buzzard.] 



New Holland produces Eagles of similar form to those 

 of Europe, the tail excepted, which is cuneiform. Such 

 is the Wedge-tailed Eagle (A.fucosa, Cuv.). 



[There are many others.] We should remark that the 

 transition from the Eagles to the Buzzards is effected by 

 insensible gradations, [the typical Buzzards being merely 

 small-sized Eagles, with weaker armature]. 



The Ernes (Halicp.etus, Cuv.) 



Have wings resembling those of the preceding, 

 but the tarsi clothed only on its upper half with 

 feathers, the remainder being semi-scutellated. 

 [Their beak also is longer and larger.] They 

 frequent the shores of rivers and of the sea, and 

 subsist in great part upon fish [without disdaining 

 carrion, like the true Eagles. 



The Cinereous Erne (F. albicilla, Lin.) of Europe, and 

 the American White-headed Erne (F. hucocephalus, Lin. 

 fig. 75) are characteris tic examples. There are also some 

 of small size, as the bird commonly termed the Pondi- 

 cherry Kite (F. ponticerianut, Gm.), which the Hindoos 

 consider sacred to Vishnu. The Cunduma of Hodgson 

 is merely a large Haliteetut], 



The Ospreys (Pandion, Savigny) — 

 Have [somewhat] the beak and feet of the Ernes ; but their talons are round underneath, while in 

 other Birds of prey [save in the true Elani] they are grooved 

 or channelled ; their tarsi are reticulated, and the second 

 [third] quill of their wings is longest. Their sternum (tig. 76) 

 differs from that of other Falcons (see fig. 72) in becoming 

 narrower towards its posterior margin, where a notch exists 

 analogous to the inner emargination of the Gallinazos, but not 

 to the foramen observable in the Falcons generally : the intes- 

 tine is very slender and of great length (whereas in the Ernes 

 it does not differ from that of other Falcons) : the super- 

 orbital bone does not project : the feathers even are com- 

 pletely destitute of the supplementary plume, (which in the 

 Ernes and most other Falcons is considerably developed), and 

 are not lengthened over the tibia : the outer toe is reversible, 

 and the foot astonishingly rough underneath, to enable them 

 to hold their slippery fishy prey, on which they subsist ex- 

 clusively. This is by far the most strongly characterized division 

 of the Linnaean genus Falco.*'] 



The Common Osprey (F. halucetus, Lin.)— [Evidently a cluster of a 

 allied species, very generally distributed. That of New Holland (P. leu- 

 cocepkalus, Gould) has the crown white. In some places this bird 

 nidificates in large societies. 



As a group, externally intermediate to the Ernes and Ospreys, 

 might be separated the F. ichthyceetus, Horsf., and several allied 

 species from Australasia. They are essentially Osprey-like Ernes, 

 which most probably retain the anatomy of the latter, and ex- 

 hibit greater developement of the mandibular tooth than either.] Fig. 7».-stcrnum of Osprey. 



« The genus Herpet/iolherei alone is nearly allied. 



