112 PANDION. 



purpose to define or establish, otherwise I should con- 

 vert my Treatise on the Rapacious Birds of Britain, 

 into a theoretico-practical rhapsody on groups and spe- 

 cies in general, an instance of which kind of digression 

 from the subject in hand might easily be pointed out. 

 After describing the Osprey, therefore, I shall proceed 

 to describe the Buzzards in order, and bring in their 

 rear the Falcons, and other groups. Should one place 

 the Common Buzzard, and the Rough-legged Buzzard, 

 beside the Golden Eagle, he will readily perceive the 

 very great similarity that exists between them. The 

 differences in the comparative size of the bill, — for there 

 are scarcely any in its form, — and in the general bulk of 

 the birds, are gradually diminished by the interposition 

 of exotic species, some of which also unite the osprey 

 with the eagles on the one hand, and with the buzzards 

 on the other. 



