REVIEWS. 
the peculiar formation of the claws, and the reticulated tarsi: Per- 
haps, however, we may escape a dilemma, by compounding with 
Mr. Ridgway upon his own suggestion (p. 143), that ‘‘ most of the 
characters of this genus are so unique that it is almost entitled to 
the rank of a subfamily.” We are glad to see a certain ‘‘ subfam- 
ily” Aquiline, done away with; for the Eagles proper seem to be 
nothing but overgrown Buteones, and it might puzzle one to find, 
for instance, very striking generic characters between Aquila 
chrysaetus and Archibuteo lagopus. We willingly relegate them to 
Buteonine, even if, in consequence, we must leave the Fishing 
Eagles alone to support a subfamily Haliaetine, as Mr. Ridgway 
does. The only point about which we take serious issue with the 
author, is in placing Astur and Accipiter with Buteo, etc., in a sub- 
family Accipitrine. Aware that it is hard to draw a technical line 
between the hawks and the buzzards, we are yet persuaded that 
there is an essential difference. The Astures are only less “noble” 
than the falcons themselves, whose spirit they share, if, indeed, in 
a weaker frame, yet in one almost equally fitted for dashing action ; 
while in their mode of preying, the nature of their prey, and their 
general habits, they are removed from the lymphatic buzzards to 
such a degree, that we would willingly accept any technical excuse 
—if it be only the relative length of the wings and tail—to sub- 
stantiate in the closet our field observations. 
Although Mr. Ridgway’s classification may be, as he says, “* one 
based upon comparatively artificial characters,” we regard it as 
the best we have, and think it probable that whatever modification 
may ultimately prove necessary will result mainly from the con- 
sideration of exotic material that is not here taken into account. 
A judicious conservatism marks Mr. Ridgway’s handling of spe- 
cific matters, in the recognition of geographical races, which has 
now become imperative, and in due allowance for variation in 
plumage, not only with sex and age, but in the more puzzling ways 
of melanism, etc., to which hawks seem specially susceptible. A 
number of nominal species of Tinnunculus are reduced to regional 
races; all the gyrfalcons are treated in the same way; our Pan- 
dion, Archibuteo, Craxirex and Polyborus, with Falco anatum, are 
referred, as varieties, to their respective analogues. Accipiter 
Mexicanus is dropped; and the silence regarding that somewhat 
celebrated bird, Haliaetus Washingtonii, is expressive. (By the 
way, as neither H. albicilla nor H. pelagicus has been actually 
taken in our country, leucocephalus is our only species.) The 
