236 CLASS AVES. 



pears to be the Caracara of Jacquin. The specimen was shot 

 at Cura^oa, and was drawn by Major Hamilton Smith before 

 its death ; it appeared to be a male bird. The female is 

 larger, and less elegantly marked. 



Prince Maximilian's Crested Hawk, Falco? is from a draw- 

 ing also by the Major of a beautiful specimen in the valuable 

 collection of Prince Maximilian, belonging to the tribe of 

 crested short-winged birds of prey. It is about the size of a 

 Goshawk. 



The Urubitinga is from the same collection. The specimen 

 differs from the Baron's short description of this species in the 

 intensity of the colour, which is a dark brown. 



We shall now take a rapid survey of the Hawks, Kites, 

 and Buzzards. There are two sections of the Hawks. The 

 Hawks proper and the Goshawks. The denomination of 

 accipiter which has been applied to the whole order of raptorial 

 birds, is the original Latin term for a hawk. But in conse- 

 quence of this application of it, naturalists have reserved the 

 term nisus for the hawks, and astur for the goshawks, whose 

 habits are similar, and whose external differences are but 

 trifling. M. Savigny has formed a new genus comprehending 

 the hawks and goshawks, to which he has given the name of 

 DcBdalion. And M. Vieillot has called these birds Sparvius. 



The generic characters of this subdivision of Accipitres we 

 shall briefly recapitulate, because from their structural import- 

 ance they should be impressed on the mind of the student. 

 The characters common to both sections are, a beak greatly 

 inclined from the base, and compressed laterally; the upper 

 mandible greatly crooked, with a very marked tooth ; the lower 

 shorter, and obtuse ; the cere smooth : the nostrils a little oval ; 

 the commissure, or division of the mouth, extending as far as 

 below the eyes ; the tongue oblong, thick, and sloped ; the tarsi 

 reticulated, principally on the sides, with a rank of lozenges in 

 front ; the four toes long, but considerably exceeded by the in- 

 termediate one ; the talons crooked and acerated ; that of the 



