BIRDS OF CEYLON. 



Order ACCIPITRES. 



Bill short, strong, stout at the base, the upper mandible longer than the lower, the culmen 

 strongly curved, the direction of the tip perpendicular; nostrils placed in a cere or soft mem- 

 brane. Wings with ten primaries. Feet strong, armed with powerful talons of an elongated 

 conical shape, curved, sharp, and rather smooth. Talons capable of being bent under the feet, 

 the inner one stronger than the others. (Sundevall in part.) 



Suborder FALCONES. 



Eyes placed laterally in the head ; no facial disk. Tail generally with twelve feathers, in 

 some with fourteen. Outer toe not reversible ; toes bare. Plumage compact. 



Fam. VULTURID.E. 



•' Head naked, or clothed with down ; no true feathers on crown of head ; nostrils not perfo- 

 rated, rounded, perpendicular, or horizontal," (Sharpe, Cat. Birds, i. p. 2.) 



