318 On the Affinities of the Falconidce. 



has been made by Audubon in regard to some species met 

 with in North America. To the genus above mentioned, 

 Mr. Swainson also gives as a character, " tarsus slender." 

 No doubt it is not so large in the Pondicherry Eagle as 

 in the Sea-Eagle, seeing that the former is not one-half 

 the size of the letter. It is however equally large in pro- 

 portion ; and no person who has ever studied this bird 

 in its native haunts on the Hoogly or the Ganges, where 

 it occurs in vast numbers, in company with other Haliaeti, 

 would for a moment doubt where its proper position ought 

 to be in the ornithological system. Nor can we perceive 

 that this tribe bears to the other members of the so-called 

 sub-family Accipitrinae, a greater affinity than any of the other 

 members of the Falconidae in general. Probably the reason 

 is, that the genus Haliaetus has a scutellated tarsus, and 

 festooned bill, like the genus Astur ; but these characters 

 are common to all the Sea-Eagles, properly so called, the 

 typical species of which Mr. Swainson, without assigning 

 any reason, has, as already stated, arranged along with the 

 Aquila, properly so called. Moreover, the members of 

 the genera Ictinia, Accipiter, and Astur, are in their habits 

 terrestrial ; so is the type of the genus Haliaetus aquatic ; 

 but probably it is his aquatic type of this division — one 

 method of making characters suit theory. 



We might notice, if it was necessary, the various arrange- 

 ments which have been proposed by Illiger, Durmeril, Vieil- 

 lot, and others ; all of which are more or less defective. Let 

 us now give our own views in regard to this group, founded 

 on an examination of all the specimens contained in the 

 magnificent collection of the Edinburgh Royal Museum; 

 which in this department, at least in Britain, stands unrival- 

 led. We have also examined the extensive collections of 

 the Zoological Society of London, British Museum, India 

 House, Liverpool Institution, &c. 



That the Falconidae present in themselves a grand circle, 



