168 



AVES. 



-White-heaJed En 



[The Golden Ea£;le {F. c/in/siictos, Lin.), the Grecian Eagle (A. Heliaca, Savigny ; F. imperially, Tern.), the 

 Spotted Eag^le (F. lucviui: and macidaUis, Gni.), the Social Eagle (A. Bonelli, Bonap.), and the Little Eag^le 



{F. pennatus, Gni.), are the European species, which suc- 

 cessively decrease in size in the order announced ; the 

 last-named being smaller than a Common Buzzard.] 



New Holland produces Eagles of similar form to those 

 of Europe, the tail excepted, which is cuneiform. Such 

 is the Wedge-tailed Eagle (A.fucosa, Cuv.). 



[There are many others.] We should remark tliat the 

 transition from the Eagles to the Buzzards is effected by 

 insensible gradations, [the typical Buzzards being merely 

 small-sized Eagles, with weaker armature]. 



The Ernes (Haliaefus, Cuv.) 

 Have wings resembling those of the preceding, 

 but the tarsi clothed only on its upper half vvitli 

 feathers, the remainder being semi-scutellated. 

 [Their beak also is longer and larger.] They 

 frequent the shores of rivers and of the sea, and 

 subsist in great part upon fish [without disdaining 

 carrion, like the true Eagles. 



The Cinereous Erne (F. albicilla, Lin.) of Europe, and 

 the American White-headed Erne (F. leucocejihalus, Lin. 

 fig. 75) are characteristic examples. There are also some 

 of small size, as the bird commonly termed the Pondi- 

 cherry Kite (F. ponticeriamts, Gni.), which the Hindoos 

 consider sacred to Vishnu. The Cunduma of Hodgson 

 is merely a large HaU<eetiis]. 



The Ospreys {Pandion, Savigny) — 

 Have [somewhat] the beak and feet of the Ernes ; but their talons are round underneath, while in 

 other Birds of prey [save in the true Elani] they are grooved 

 or channelled ; their tarsi are reticulated, and the second 

 [third] quill of their wings is longest. Their sternum (fig. 76) 

 differs from that of other Falcons (see fig. 72) in becoming i 

 narrower towards its posterior margin, where a notch exists 

 analogous to the inner emargination of the Gallinazos, but not 

 to the foramen observable in the Falcons generally : the intes- 

 tine is veiy slender and of great length (whereas in the Ernes 

 it does not differ from that of other Falcons) : the super- 

 orbital bone does not project : the feathers even are com- 

 pletely destitute of the supplementary plume, (which in the 

 Ernes and most other Falcons is considerably developed), and 

 are not lengihened over the tibia : the outer toe is reversible, 

 and the foot astonishingly rough underneath, to enable them 

 to hold their shppery fishy prey, on which they subsist ex- 

 clusively. This is by far the most strongly characterized division 

 of the Linna2an genus Falco.*'\ 



The Common Osprey (F. haliceefiis, Lin.)— [Evidently a cluster of a 

 allied species, very generally distributed. That of New Holland (P. leu- 

 cocephalus, Gould) has the crown white. In some places this bird 

 nidificates in large societies. 



As a group, externally intermediate to the Ernes and Ospreys, 

 might be separated the F. ichthyceetus, Horsf., and several allied 

 species from Australasia. They are essentially Osprey-like Ernes, 

 which most probably retain the anatomy of the latter, and ex- 

 hibit greater developement of the mandibular tooth than either.] 



• The genus Herpethotherea alone is nearly 



