that connect the Orders and Families of Birds. 423 



tion, and the insufficiency of the data which are afforded us on 

 such points, for forming any decisive conclusions. 



If we admit the Gypogeranus among the Rapt ores, we may ar- 

 range it, I conceive, next the Vultures, to which family it bears a 

 nearer affinity than to the Falconidce, in its naked cheeks and the 

 looseness of the plumage about the head. The construction of 

 the feet also brings it more close to the Vultures, while the com- 

 parative straightness and bluntness of its toes distinguish them 

 from the hooked and pointed talons of the Falcons. The greater 

 developement of the membrane which connects the toes affords 

 an additional reason for placing it near the Vullurida. Its natu- 

 ral station, therefore, appears to be immediately preceding this 

 family, from which indeed it seems only to deviate in the length 

 of its tarsi and its reptile food. 



Passing on now to the succeeding families of the order, — the 

 affinity between the Vulturida and FalcoriidcB may with equal 

 confidence be asserted, from the circumstance of several species 

 of each being indiscriminately arranged in both families by dif- 

 ferent systematic writers The external characters of these neigh- 

 bouring groups are indeed considerably blended together. The 

 long bills of the Vultures, straight at the base and hooked only 

 at the point, pass over into many groups of the Falconidce ; while 

 some species of the latter family, which from their manners 

 cannot be separated from it, exhibit the naked face and loose 

 plumage that characterize the Vultures. Of this, the Falco Nova 

 Zealandia of Dr. Latham affords a notable instance ; and more 

 particularly his Falco Braziliensis, another of the Fishing Eagles, 

 forming the genus Polyborus of M, Vieillot, where the throat is 

 devoid of feathers, as well as the cheeks. The genus Gypaetus 

 of Storr, of which the bearded Vulture of the Alps presents the 

 type, appears to form the connecting link between the families. 

 Here, not merely the details of the bird's structure partially cor- 

 respond with those of the conterminous groups, but in manners 



also 



