68 BRITISH BIRDS. 



Genus PEENIS. 



The genus Pernis was established by Cuvier in 1817 in his ' Regne 

 Animal/ i. p. 322^ for the reception of the Honey-Buzzard, which he 

 removed from his genus Buteo, in which Vieillot had erroneously placed 

 it. As the Honey-Buzzard was the only species of the genus known to 

 Cuvier^ it became unquestionably the type. 



There is only one European species of this genus^ which may at once be 

 distinguished from any other European bird of firey by its feathered lores. 

 The genus is confined to the Old World. Besides the European bird, two 

 other very nearly allied species are known, inhabiting some of the islands 

 of the Malay archipelago, and two more distantly related — one inhabiting 

 New Guinea, and the other South Africa. 



