44 



FALCONING. PERNIS. 



crown dark brown ; a broad band of blackish-brown, on the 

 cheeks and neck ; the lower parts white, the neck streaked 

 with brown. Young with the feathers of the upper parts 

 deep brown, terminally margined with reddish-white. 



Male, 24, 64, 20, !{{[, 2J, 1 T 9 5 , 1 T V Female, 26, 68. 



Generally dispersed in England and Scotland, but rare, 

 and apparently migratory. Breeds on some of the Scottish 

 lakes, as Loch Lomond and Loch Awe. Feeds exclusively 

 on fishes, which it captures by plunging after them on their 

 approaching the surface. Its flight is sedate, buoyant, and 

 graceful, and it hovers over the water with an undulatory 

 motion of the wings. The nest, which is bulky, is placed on 

 a rock, old building, or tree ; and the eggs, three or four in 

 number, are roundish, white, with large patches of brown, 

 2 T 4 f long, lj| broad. The intestine of a male examined by 

 me was eleven feet 3 inches long, its widest part T 3 ^ across, 

 the narrowest T 2 5 . The oesophagus and stomach being 11-J- 

 inches, the whole length of the alimentary canal was 12 feet, 

 2^ inches. 



Fishing Eagle. Fish Hawk. Bald Buzzard. 



Falco Haliretus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 129. Falco Halia3tus, 

 Temm. Man. d'Ornith. i. 47; ii. 25. Pandion Haliaetus, 

 Fishing Osprey, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, iii. 239. 



GENUS VI. PERNIS. BEE-HAWK. 



Bill shorter than the head, somewhat broader than high 

 at the base, compressed toward the end, strong ; upper man- 

 dible decurved from the base, with the sides convex, the 

 edges with a very slight festoon, the tip descending, slender, 

 acute ; lower mandible with the angle of moderate length, 

 broad, and rounded, the dorsal line convex, the tip rounded. 

 Mouth rather wide ; tongue short, with the base concave and 

 papillate, the upper surface deeply concave, the sides nearly 

 parallel, the tip rounded but emarginate ; oesophagus very 

 wide, dilated into a very large crop ; proventriculus wide ; 

 stomach large, roundish, its muscular coat very thin ; intes- 

 tine of moderate length, rather wide ; no coeca ; cloaca ellip- 

 tical, very large. Nostrils linear-oblong, oblique. Eyes rather 

 large ; eyelids destitute of ciliary bristles : the supraocular 

 ridge small. Aperture of ear large, transversely elliptical. 

 Head ovate, flattened above, of moderate size ; neck rather 

 short ; body rather elongated, moderately full. Legs short, 



