OF ORNITHOLOGY 87 



placed in them (as evinced in the Order PiCARiiE,) so others, 

 like the Owls, Hawks, etc., are best known by their sub-fam- 

 ilies. (And they, likewise, by the individuals placed in them). 

 Many writers are now making a separate family of the Fish 

 Hawk or Osprey ; perhaps the wisdom of this is as evident as 

 that of constituting a separate family for the Barn Owl. As 

 we treat the one we will so treat the other. In general : a 

 Hawk, a Falcon, or an Eagle, are easily to be told at sight or 

 with but very little difficulty. The general appearance is not 

 easily to be mistaken. The hooked bill, the fierce eye, the 

 head, wings, tail, and general appearance of the body, are all 

 characteristic, and striking the eye at once give an unmistak- 

 able impression. Even the dead bird and the dried skin bear 

 with them the form, appearance, and general air of a dead 

 warrier. The flight is powerful, *and bears out well the gene- 

 ral character of the bird. The foot of a Hawk is also a nota- 

 ble characteristic — the sharp, curved, and strong claws could 

 not easily be mistaken for those of birds of any other family. 

 The Sub-families of the Falconid2E are as persistent and 

 as well defined as in the Strigid^e. The are as follows : 



Sub-family a CIRCIN-ffi Harriers 



The Marsh Hatch, our only representative of this sub-fam- 

 ily so far, is a familiar and well-known bird. It differs mate- 

 rially from any other of the hawks, and yet approaches the 

 Kites from which, on a first inspection, it would seem to be 

 the farthest removed of any of the lesser hawks. It has the 

 bill less powerful than the other species with which it was for- 

 merly associated, and it is neither notched or toothed at the 

 tip ; the tarsus is long and slender, and the feet and claws 

 comparatively weak as well as slender ; cere prominent ; nos- 

 trils large and oblong ; rictal bristles many, curving, and 

 long ; head large ; face with a partial disc much as in the 

 Owls ; ears prominent ; wings long and pointed ; tail long and 

 broadening towards the tip. The difference in the plumage of 

 the male and the female often confuses a novice into the sup- 



