328 Mr. Vigors's Sketches in Ornilhologj/. 



than the tail, have the third and fourth quill feathers, which are 

 the longest, of equal length. The tarsi are of moderate length 

 and strength, and have the acrotarsia scutellated as in the latter 

 groups of the present stirps. The nares are of a semicircular 

 form, and the cere is naked. The F. Diodoti of M. Temminck is 

 to be referred to this genus. 



§. 3. Stirps Falconina. Falcons. 



Closely allied to the preceding genus by the double tooth on its 

 upper mandible, and its short wings, is another group for which 

 I shall propose the name of 



Ieuax,* 

 a common term applied to many of the Falcontdce, and which has 

 recently been conferred on the genus Accipiter^ but certainly 

 without attention to the original designation of that group. Who- 

 ever has seen that beautiful species, the smallest of its race, F. 

 cceridescens, Linn., now rendered familiar to us by the accurate 

 and splendid illustrations of Dr. Horsfield, will at once acknow- 

 ledge its separation from every other established genus of the 

 family. Its upper mandible is strongly and sharply bidentated, 

 as in Harpagus, but the under mandible is simply notched, as in 

 the true Falcons. Its wings, shorter than the tail, differ also 

 from those of Harpagas, in having the second quill feather the 

 longest, thus again establishing the affinity of the genus to the 

 Falcons. The tarsi are moderate, and the acrotarsia scutellated 

 as in the latter groups of the Hazoks. From its thus possessing 



* My friend Dr. Leach has adopted this term for the group to which I 

 would restore the name of Accipiter, and has named the A . fringillarius in the 

 Collection of British Birds belonging to the British Museum accordingly. 1 

 should certainly subscribe to his views in this instance, were I not satisfied 

 tliat the term Accipiter had been already attached to that group, and that 

 'Efa? had been applied by Aristotle not only to our Sparrow Hawk, but to 

 the greater part of the short billed Falconidce. Aristotle in fact appears to 

 have divided the family into the three grand divisions of «£T0<, lepocxtij 

 and /xT/vo/, of which he also specifies the subdivisions. The upacxti comprise 

 all our Falconida which belong to the stirpes of Hawks, Falcons, and 

 JHuzzunls, 



