86 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



Polyhoroides, too, formerly alluded to (page 17); appears to be a 

 Serpent Eagle. 



The genus Morphnvs of South America appears to be a Buteonine 

 type, and perhaps does not belong to the Eagles. Thrasaettis, 

 or Harpjjia, is a very pov\'eiful form, with a strong bill, crested 

 head, and long, and very robust, but not very unequal, toes. 



Sub-Fam. Buteonin^e, Buzzards. 



Bill small or moderate, rather weak; wings longer moderate; 

 tail short, or moderately long in a few ; tarsi rather long, with scuta 

 both in front and behind ; feet short ; hind toe short. 



This sub-family contains the buzzards, harriers, and some allied 

 forms. They are not, as a whole, well characterized apart from 

 the eagles and some of" the kites, but have generally longer legs 

 than the kites, and though partly insectivorous, may be said to 

 be more rapacious in their habits than the kites, and less so than the 

 eagles. The head is usuall}^ dc[)ressed, and rather broad, longer than, 

 but not so flat as, tliat of the eagles ; the bill is short, broadish at 

 the base, compressed at the tip, the sides sloping, not very convex, 

 and the margin is generally' festooned ; the wings are long, ample, 

 and rounded, the 3rd and 4th quills usually the longest ; the legs 

 are robust, firm, moderately lengthened, sometimes naked or half 

 plumed, or, in a few, feathered to the toes, which are typically 

 short, but with the toes and clasvs unequal in size. 



In a general way, they may be said to be distinguished from the 

 eagles by their smaller size, usually naked tarsi, more active habit, 

 and a peculiar physiognomy and coloration ; and from the kites 

 b}'' their longer legs and more unequal toes. The rovigh-legged 

 buzzards, however, certainly approximate very closely to the eagles. 

 The liarriers differ a good deal from the ordinary t^^pe of the 

 buzzards, approaching some of the kites in their coloring, but their 

 unequal toes and other parts preclude them from entering that sub- 

 family, and they might form a separate group, as indeed Blyth 

 places them ; but they certainly are osculant with the buzzards, 

 through such birds as the marsh-harrier and Buteo pliwiipcs, or B. 

 pygmmis. 



