44 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



Falconers, i. e., the rose-eyed or light-eyed, as opposed to the 

 Black-eyed, Falcons. 



The limits of this family do not appear to me to have been so 

 strictly marked out by systematists as they are by nature. The Fal- 

 cons and the Hawks, being the most typical groups of the talconidce, 

 vary less in their forms than the other and more aberrant divisions ; 

 and, as far as I can judge, several forms are placed here Avhich more 

 strictly belong to other families. The genus Herpetotheres, judging 

 from the figure of its tarsus and feet in Gray's Genera of Birds, cannot 

 well be placed among the hawks ; and its short toes and sub-eqiial 

 claws point out its place as among the Kites. Its type is the Falco 

 cachinnans of Linnteus. Geranospija or Ischnoscelis has very long- 

 tarsi, and toes of moderate length, with the outer toe the shortest. 

 This structure is of rare occurrence among the diurnal Falconidas, 

 the only others instances, that I know of, being in Neopus and 

 Pandion. The Hawk eagles, placed in this family by Horsfield and 

 Bonaparte, in our views, are clearly eagles, as shown by their 

 general structure, and mode of change of colour ; and Morphnus, also 

 placed here by Bonaparte, either belongs also to the Eagles, or to the 

 Buzzards, Asturina, also a Soutii American form, is said by 

 Kaup to be a vulturine type among the Hawks, as shown by its 

 rather long and straight bill, and buzzard-like carriage and habits. 

 In this case it cannot well be placed as a sub-genus of Astur. 



Gen. Astur, Lac. 



Syn. Dcedalion, Sav. 



Char. — Bill short, stout, curved from tlie base, compressed, with 

 a prominent festoon or rounded tooth in the upper mandible, near the 

 middle ; nostrils large, oval, oblique, near the culmen ; lores thickly 

 clad with minute feathers ; wings short, rounded ; first quill short, 

 fourth and fifth quills usually equal and longest. Tail long, far ex- 

 ceeding the points of the wings, nearly even, or slightly rounded. 

 Tarsus moderate, or shortish, plumed below the knees for nearly 

 half the length of the tarsus, stout, with large scuta in front and 

 behind ; near the knee, posteriorly, the scales are small and 

 reticulated ; toes strong, outer toe longer than the inner one, joined 



