FALCONID^. 19 



witli the claws long, sharp, and well-curved ; head and neck are 

 always feathered; eyes sunk, shaded above by a bony projec- 

 tion or brow. 



This family comprises all the diurnal birds of prey not previ- 

 ously mentioned, viz., the Hawks, Eagles, and Kites. They fly 

 well, and take their prey on the wing, feeding on small mammals, 

 birds, reptiles, fishes, and insects, a few of the larger kinds not 

 disdaining carrion or garbage. They generally remove part of the 

 hair or feathers before eating their prey, but any indigestible 

 portions remaining are vomited up in the form of round pellets. 

 They perch with the body pretty erect, and with the head and neck 

 thrown back, but their curved claws prevent them from resting well 

 on the ground, and they move badly on it. Almost all are solitary - 

 and monogamous. Their cry is shrill, or plaintive and wild. They 

 breed either in trees, or on rocks and buildings, laying two to five 

 eggs, white, more or less spotted and blotched with reddish brown. 

 They undergo great changes of plumage at different periods of 

 their life, which render their determination somewhat difficult, and 

 has led to a considerable multiplication of names. As a family 

 they present great differences of size, structur§, aspect, and habits, 

 which will be better pointed out under the head of each sub-family, 

 than as a whole. 



Gray divides them into Circince, Accipitrince, Milvince, Falcon- 

 7imcB, Aquilince, Buteonince, and Polyborince. Blyth sub-divides 

 them still further into Falconince, Pernince, FlanincB, Circatmce, 

 Circince, A ccipitrince, TItrasactinw, Aquilince, Buteonince, Haliostince, 

 and Polyborince. Of these sub-families the Perninoe and Elaninoe 

 form part of the JMilvince, of Gray, and the Circaetince, Thrasaetince 

 and HalicetincB part of the Aguilince. Vigors, Swainson, Kaup, 

 and Horsfield divide the Falconidoe into Falconinoe or Falcons, 

 Accipitrince or Hawhs, Milvince, or Kites, Bateonince or Buzzards, 

 and Aquilince or Eayles, which divisions I have adopted in the 

 present work, the Harriers being the only other group I would 

 feel inclined to separate, and these are, I conceive, very closely 

 related to the Buzzards by a species mentioned hereafter. I have, 

 however, made some alterations in the allocation of various orenera. 



