On the Groups of the Falconidce. 331 



as usual, to soften down these differences, and we perceive in the 



mandibles of the genus 



Ictinia, Vieill. 

 an approximation to the teeth of the Falcons. This genus is founded 

 upon the Milan Cresserelle of M. Vieillot, and exhibits a strong 

 and short bill, the upper mandible of which is somewhat angularly 

 festooned, and the under distinctly notched. The nares are rounded 

 as in the Falcons ; the tarsi are rather short, and feathered below 

 the knees, and the acrotarsia scutellated. The wings are of con- 

 siderable length, extending far beyond the tail, a character which 

 has induced M. Vieillot and others to place this bird near the 

 Kites. Its strong affinity, however, to the last Stirps, of which it 

 possesses so many of the characteristicks, inclines me to assign it its 

 present situation. In manners it seems also to approach the Fal- 

 cons. If we consider the Missisippi Kite of Mr. Wilson* to 

 belong to the present group of M. Vieillot, of which I have little 

 doubt, Ave must attribute to the bird before us, judging from the in- 

 teresting description in the American Ornithology, much of those 

 spirited and generous qualities which we admire in the typical 

 groups of the family. + 

 The genus 



Circus, Auct. 

 exhibits still a slight approximation to the last groups in the struc- 



* Amer. Orn. pi. 25. f. 3. 



+ M. Temminck, in speaking of the Harpagus bidentatus [pi. col. 38.] ob- 

 serves, that the apparent anomaly of the double tooth is not confined to that 

 species, but is found in some undescribed Buzzards, and more particularly in 

 a new species allied to Pcrnis. These birds will most probably come into 

 the present situation, and encrease the number of those groups which, with 

 Ictinia, form the intervening bond of union between the true Falcons and the 

 Buzzards. He also mentions some birds that he is about to describe, with the 

 bill and wings of the Hawks, but with some other strong characters of the 

 Falcons. These again will add to the number of those intervening groups that 

 have been already seen to connect those two stirpes. M. Temminck subjoins 

 to these remarks, " les feseurs de genres nouveaux, trouvent ici des entraves 

 contraires a leurs vues strictement methodiques." I cannot think so. Every 

 discovery of these singular affinities rather evinces the necessity of the subdi- 

 visions that are every day taking place. Indeed the valuable observations of 

 that distinguished naturalist himself afford us the strongest proof of the just- 

 ness of the modern views, against which he so expressly sets his face. 





