CUCKOO FALCON. 105 



prototype of the hook-billed kites of tropical Ame- 

 rica, that but for its bill, it would be impossible to 

 distinguish the two genera, while both are disguised 

 in the plumage of the cuckoos ; or that family they 

 both represent in their respective circles. By the 

 discovery of this beautiful bird, we can thus trace 

 four of the sub-genera or primary divisions of the 

 true falcons; the fifth, which will represent the 

 buzzards, alone remaining to be determined. 



The general form of this remarkable type may be 

 thus briefly described. It has the long wings of a 

 buzzard, the tips reaching to within two inches and 

 a half of the extremity of the tail : the three first 

 quills are graduated, and slightly sinuated in the 

 middle of the inner web ; the tail is broad and quite 

 even ; the bill is very like that of the genus Cy- 

 mindis, being broad and compressed, but the tip is 

 less elongated and the two teeth on each side are 

 situated near the tip, as in all the typical falcons ; 

 the nostrils, as in Cymmdis, are closed, and merely 

 open by a transverse slit ; the feet also are in like 

 manner similar to those of the group this type ob- 

 viously represents ; the tarsus is so short, that it is 

 inferior in length to the middle toe, and is feathered 

 half way down, the remaining portion being covered 

 with irregularly shaped somewhat hexagonal scales ; 

 the soles of the feet are remarkably broad, and all 

 the three toes are cleft to their base ; the outer toe 

 is shorter than the inner one, and is only as long as 

 the hinder, leaving out the measurement of the 

 claws. The whole form, in short, is precisely that 



