OSPREY. Ill 



and rather soft, without tlic tuft of long feathers ob- 

 served in the eagles and most otlier genera of tliis fa- 

 mily. Wings very long, comparjitively narrow, rounded, 

 with thirty quills, the third primary longest, the second 

 nearly equal, the fourth not much sliorter, the first longer 

 than the fifth ; the primary quills tapering but rounded; 

 the secondary broad and rounded ; the tertiary largely 

 developed. Tail rather long, slightly rounded, of 

 twelve broad rounded feathers. 



The genus Pandion, of which the only true species 

 known to me is the Osprey, P. Haliaetus, is closely al- 

 lied to the genera Aquila and Haliaetus, perhaps more 

 especially to the latter, through the intervention of a 

 genus or group, of which the Falco Ichthyaetus of Dr 

 Horsfield is characteristic. That bird has the bill more 

 of the form of that of the Haliaeti, and its tarsi are an- 

 teriorly covered with broad scutella as in them ; but the 

 general form is that of Pandion, and the wings and tibiae 

 in particular resemble those of the Osprey, the latter be- 

 ing equally destitute of the long tufted feathers. On the 

 other hand, the claws are flat beneath, as in the Haliaeti. 

 In other respects, the Osprey comes naturally enough 

 after the eagles, and introduces the hawks or smaller 

 species of the Falconine family. In thickness and 

 strength of bill the true falcons may be considered as 

 following the Osprey; but the buzzards, in their gene- 

 ral form, in that of their bill, which, although compara- 

 tively smaller, and more abbreviated, is in many re- 

 spects very similar, and in the structure of their feet, 

 which very much resemble those cf some Haliaeti, cer- 

 tainly come near to the birds of the genera Haliaetus 

 and Aquila. The points of connection it is not my 



