FALCONIDiE 263 



Order V. AOCIPITRBS. 



Bill strong, upper mandible longer than the lower, culmen 

 curved and ending in a hook ; basal portion of the upper mandible 

 covered by a soft membrane, the cere, in which are pierced the 

 nostrils ; the feet strong, always provided with a hallux and powerful 

 claws. Female usually larger than the male; young hatched 

 helpless and covered with down, usually remaining in the nest for 

 some time. 



Other characters are as follows : oil-gland present and tufted ; a 

 well-defined spinal feather-tract on the neck ; two carotids ; plantar 

 tendons usually galline ; ambiens muscle always present ; palate 

 usually desmognathous ; primaries eleven, tail-feathers usually 

 twelve sometimes fourteen. 



This Order contains the diurnal birds of prey, which are now 

 usually separated from the Owls. With regard to the further 

 division of the Order, there can be no doubt that, apart from the 

 Condors of the New World which do not here concern us, the 

 Secretary bird and the Osprey form two very distinct groups, which 

 by some authors have been considered as suborders ; the Vultures 

 on the other hand are certainly more closely allied to the typical 

 Hawks. Perhaps however the most convenient way of dealing with 

 the Order will be to recognise four families, which may be separated 

 from one another by the following superficial characters. 



A. Legs very long, tarso-metatarsus about half the 



length of the wing Serpentariidce, p. 402. 



B. Legs moderate, tarso-metatarsus never a 



quarter length of the wing. 

 a. Outer toe reversible, no after-shaft to the 



contour feathers PandionidcB, p. 398. 



5. Outer toe not reversible, after-shaft present, 

 a'. Crown of the head naked or covered with 



down VuUuridcB, p. 382. 



&'. Crown of the head covered with feathers ... Falconidce, p. 263. 



Family I. FALCONID^. 



This family contains the great majority of the birds of prey, and 

 the following are the principal characters distinguishing it. Skull 

 generally with desmognathous palate and never with basipterygoid 

 processes, deep plantar tendons galline (see fig. 2b, p. 2), i.e., the 



