236 AVES. 



Pandion, Savigny. 



The Ospreys have the beak and feet of the Fisher Eaglesjbut their 

 claws are round underneath, while in other birds of prey they are 

 grooved or channelled; their tarsi are reticulated, and the second 

 quill of their wings is the longest. 



Only one species is known, which is found along the shores of 

 fresh waters in almost every part of the globe, varying but little in 

 plumage: it is the 



Falco haliastus, L.; Enl. 414, and better, Catesby, II; Wils. 

 V, xxxviij Vieillot, Gal. iij Naum. 16. (TheOsprey.) A third 

 smaller than the Ossifragus; white, with a brown mantle; a 

 brown band descending from the angle of the beak towards the 

 back; brown spots on the head and neck, also a few on the 

 breast; the cera and feet, sometimes yellow, and sometimes blue. 

 The species of the genus 



CiRCAETUs, Vieillot, 



Are in a manner intermediate between the Fisher-Eagles, the Os- 

 preys and the Buzzards. They have the wings of the Eagle and 

 Buzzard, and the reticulated tarsi of the Osprey. 



F. gallicus, Gm. ; F. leucopsls, Bechst. ; F. brachydactylus^ 

 Tern.; Enl. 413; Naum. 15; Jean le Blanc. Superior in size to 

 the Osprey; the curvature of its beak is more sudden than in 

 the other Eagles, and the toes are shorter in proportion. It is 

 brown above, white beneath, with pale brown spots; three light 

 bands on the tail. Its carriage is rather that of a Buzzard than 

 of an Eagle, and it feeds chiefly on Frogs and Serpents. 



F. ecaudatits, Sh.; Le Bateleur, Vaill. Afric. 7 and 8. An 

 African species, remarkable for the extreme shortness of its 

 tail, and its beautifully variegated plumage. The cera of its 

 beak is red.(l) 

 America produces Eagles with long Avings, like the preceding 

 ones, and naked scutellated tarsi, in which a more or less considera- 

 ble portion of the sides of the head, and sometimes of the throat, is 



.Sigle aguia,(F. aguiu, T. ) Col. 302; the F. icldyxtus, Ilorsf. Jav. ; the Milva- 

 go ochrocephalus, Sp. I, or Chimachima, Azz. or F. degener, lllig. We should also 

 remember that the transition from the Eagles to the Buzzards is effected by insen- 

 sible gradations. 



(1) Add the Crowned Eagle, Azz. [F. coronatus. Tern.) Col, 234; the Circaite 

 du S^n^gal, (C. ciriereus,) Vieill. Gal. pi. xii ; the Caracara/unelru, (F. NovasZe- 

 landise, Lat.) Col. 192 and 224, 



