FALCONIDJ::. 19 



with the claws long, sharp, and well-curved ; head and neck are 

 always feathered; eyes sunk, shaded above by a bony projec- 

 tion or brow. 



This family comprises all the diurnal birds of prey not previ- 

 ously mentioned, viz., the Hawks, Eagles, and Kites. They fly 

 well, and take their prey on the wing, feeding on small mammals, 

 birds, reptiles, fishes, and insects, a few of the larger kinds not 

 disdaining carrion or garbage. They generally remove part of the 

 hair or feathers before eating their prey, but any indip-estible 

 portions remaining are vomited up in the form of round pellets. 

 They perch with the body pretty erect, and with the head and neck 

 thrown back, but their curved claws prevent them from resting well 

 on the ground, and they move badly on it. Almost all are solitary 

 and monogamous. Their cry is shrill, or plaintive and wild. They 

 breed either in trees, or on rocks and buildings, laying two to five 

 eggs, white, more or less spotted and blotched with reddish brown. 

 They undergo great clianges of plumage at different periods of 

 their life, which render their determination somewhat difficult, and 

 has led to a considerable multiplication of names. As a family 

 they present great differences of size, structure, aspect, and habits, 

 which will be better pointed out under the head of each sub-family, 

 than as a whole. 



Gray divides them into Circinw, Accipitrince, Milvince, Falcon- 

 nince, Aquilina', Bitteonince, and Polyhorince. Blyth sub-divides 

 them still further into Falconina^, Pernincc, Flanina?, Circatina', 

 CircuKi^, Accipitrimc, Thrasactinw, Aqidlinrv, Buteonincv, Haliostince, 

 and PolyhoriiKJB. Of these sub-families the Pernince and Elanince 

 form part of the MilvincB, of Gray, and the Circaetina', Thrasnetince 

 and Halioetime part of the Aipdlinoi. Vigors, Swainson, Kaup, 

 and Horsfield divide the FalconidcB into Falconinai or Falcons, 

 Accipitrince or Hawks, Milvince, or Kites, Bateonince or Buzzards, 

 and Aquilincv or Eagles, which divisions I have adopted in the 

 present work, the Harriers being the only other group 1 ^\■ould 

 feel inclined to separate, and these are, I conceive, very closely 

 related to the Buzzards by a species mentioned hereafter. I have, 

 however, made some alterations in the allocation of various genera. 



