On the Affinities of the Falconida. 311 



any one generic character in common with each other, 

 authors being unwilling to make new genera. It was then 

 that ornithology appeared a mass of ill digested, and ill 

 arranged matter, and in many cases before it could be 

 determined whether a bird was a new species, it was neces- 

 sary to examine upwards of two hundred, and in no group 

 was the task more difficult than among the Hawks. La- 

 bouring under such disadvantages, ornithologists hailed with 

 much pleasure and satisfaction the admirable system con- 

 tained in the Regne Animal of the Baron Cuvier, who with 

 that wonderful sagacity, which is so conspicuous in all 

 his works, remodelled the whole of the Linnasan system, and 

 produced one, which for simplicity and elegance, stands, 

 as a whole, unrivalled, and probably, under certain modifica- 

 tions, will long remain so. 



In the Linnaean system we find the Diurnal Rapacious 

 Birds divided into two grand divisions — viz., Falcons and 

 Vultures. The former of which is thus characterized : — Ros- 

 trum aduncum, basi cera instructum, caput pennis arcti tec- 

 tum. Lingua bifida, — terms which however are not at all 

 applicable, and the latter statement is quite inaccurate if 

 applied to the whole group. The group of Falcons he 

 does not again subdivide, if we except that division where 

 he arranges them into those with the waxen-coloured and 

 those with the dusky coloured cere, a character which is only 

 a mark of age, not a real generic distinction. 



The above simple arrangement, as already mentioned, 

 answered all the purposes required in order to point out 

 clearly the species then known, the number being only 

 twenty-four, three of which, however, are not species, but 

 young birds, or females of others previously described. 



By the Baron Cuvier the Diurnal Birds of Prey are divided 

 into two grand groups — viz., the Vultures and Hawks ; the 

 former being again subdivided into five genera, viz., Vulture 

 properly so called, Cathartes, Sarcoramphus, Percnopterus, 



