564 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



Raptores. If identical, the species must exist in America, Africa 

 S """""V~'' (occasionally in Europe), and the East Indies. The swal- 

 low-tailed kite (M. furcates) forms the genus Nauclerus 

 of Vigors. See Plate CCCLXXXIX. fig. I. The form is 

 slender, the tail very long and greatly forked. The spe- 

 cies just named is white, with back, wings, and tail black, 

 glossed with green and purple. It inhabits America, at 

 least as far south as Buenos Ayres, and also passes the 

 summer and breeds in the warmer parts of the United 

 States. Tempted by the abundance of the fruitful valley 

 of the Mississippi, a few are seen to wander as far as the 

 Falls of St Antony, in the forty-fourth degree. Audubon 

 states, that in calm warm weather they soar to an immense 

 height, pursuing the large insects (probably libellulae) 

 called musquito hawks, using their tails with an elegance 

 peculiar to themselves, and performing the most singular 

 evolutions. The Mississippi kite (F. plumbeus, Latham) 

 constitutes the genus Ictinia of the modern systems. 

 It is of a blackish ash colour, the head and under parts of 

 a much paler ashy hue. Wilson frequently observed this 

 hawk in the course of his perambulations, sailing about in 

 easy circles, at a considerable height in the air, and gene- 

 rally in company with Turkey buzzards, with whose mode 

 of flight its own exactly corresponds. It is not easy to say 

 why two birds, whose food and manners are in other re- 

 spects so different, should so frequently associate in their 

 airy gambols. Though the Mississippi kite feeds chiefly 

 on reptiles and insects, it is a bold and energetic bird. 

 The specimen obtained by Wilson, though wounded, and 

 precipitated from a stunning height, exhibited great 

 strength, and a most unconquerable spirit. He no sooner 

 approached to pick it up, than the bird immediately gave 

 battle, striking rapidly with its claws, wheeling round and 

 round as it lay, " partly on his rump," and defend ng itself 

 with vigilance and dexterity. Notwithstanding all the 

 aggressor's caution, it struck its hind claw into his hand, 

 with such force as to penetrate into the bone. " Anxious 

 to preserve his life, I endeavoured gently to disengage it ; 

 but this made him only contract it the more powerfully, 

 causing such pain that I had no other alternative but that 

 of cutting the sinew of his heel with my penknife." The 

 whole time he lived with Wilson he seemed to watch his 

 every movement, erecting the feathers of his head, eyeing 

 him with fierceness, and no doubt regarding him (and with 

 some show of justice) as the greater savage of the two. 



In a fifth tribe we may place the honey-hawks, buzzards, 

 and harriers, small groups connected, in a variety of ways, 

 by the usual interlacements, with several of the preceding 

 tribes. The buzzards, for example, both in form and 

 plumage, resemble small eagles, though their bills are more 

 curved from the base ;' the harriers in some measure con- 

 nect the buzzards with the accipitrine hawks (gen. Nisus 

 and Astur) ; while the honey-hawks (Pernis) unite the 

 buzzards to the kites. The natural affinities of groups are 

 in truth so multiplied and complex,, that we need scarcely 

 wonder that even those who have most devoted them- 

 selves to explore such Cretan labyrinths, should have often 

 failed in their supposed elucidation : — so much the worse for 

 those who have never found the thread. 

 j In the genus Pernis, Cuv. the lore, or space between 

 the bill and eye, is closely covered by small, compact, 

 rounded feathers, the nostrils are narrow, and the tarsi 

 short, stout, and reticulated. The British bee-hawk (P. 

 apivorus), or honey-buzzard as it is usually called, though 

 it cares less for the honey than for those that make it, is 

 of this genus. We have no other indigenous, or indeed 



European species; but a beautiful crested kind (P. cris- Raptores. 



tata, Cuv.), Plate CCCLXXXIX. fig. 2, occurs in Java"*— ^ ' 



and the East Indies. P. Elliott is also native to the latter 

 country. 



In the genus Buteo, Bechstein, the cutting margin of 

 the upper mandible is more flexuous or tooth-like, the gape 

 wider, and the space between the eye and the cere is co- 

 vered by the same setaceous plumage which usually pre- 

 vails in that part, the nostrils are rounded, and the tarsi 

 scutellated in front. The buzzards are a numerous genus, 

 distributed over most parts of the world. We have only 

 two British species, the common buzzard (Buteo vulgaris), 

 and the rough-legged kind (B. lagopus). The latter is a 

 rare or rather accidental visitor, its proper districts being 

 the northern parts of Europe and America. We think 

 buzzards are most abundant in wooded countries. They 

 fly more sluggishly than hawks, and generally rather low, 

 but at times they ascend to a great height, sweeping round 

 in easy circles, and uttering a frequent shrilly cry. 



In the genus Circus the bill is slender and compressed, 

 the cere large, the cheeks encircled by a kind of recurved 

 ruff, and the tarsi long, slender, and scutellated before 

 and behind. We have three British species, the moor 

 harrier ( C. aruginosus), the common ringtail or hen-har- 

 rier ( C. cyaneus, male, — C. pygargus, female), and Monta- 

 gu's harrier (C. cineraceus). All these birds roost and 

 breed upon the ground, fly low, and frequent mountainous 

 or marshy places. They prey upon whatever small-sized 

 creatures they can master, whether beast, bird, reptile, or 

 insect. The hen-harrier is supposed to occur in almost all 

 parts of the world, but the identity of the American and 

 European specimens has not been definitely determined. 

 We have figured a foreign species as an example in Plate 

 CCCLXXXIX. fig. 5. It is the Circus palustris of Tem- 

 minck ( C. superciliosus of some other authors), and a na- 

 tive of Brazil. 



We now arrive at the falcons properly so called, or 

 those which have been sometimes distinguished by the 

 appellation of noble birds of prey, probably on account of 

 certain members of the group, such as the peregrine and 

 jer-falcon, being held in high esteem as accessaries in the 

 sports of the field. We cannot say that we have been led 

 to our present arrangement by an impression that it is 

 more natural than any other, for we have already left the 

 point which would have conducted us more insensibly in- 

 to the ensuing nocturnal group of owls ; but we do not 

 think it is liable to more grave objections than are many 

 others. Indeed the circular or recurrent nature of the 

 actual affinities of natural groups renders their true expo- 

 sition, so far as any consecutive system is concerned, im- 

 possible ; for, instead of advancing, we must necessarily 

 terminate where we began, and therefore either retrace a 

 portion of our circle, or break or bend it, before we can 

 proceed to another. Without, therefore, desiring the 

 reader to suppose that the harriers in any special way 

 conduct him to the falcons, we shall give a brief notice of 

 the latter. 



The falcons are chiefly distinguished by the strong, 

 tooth-like notching of the bill, which in the preceding 

 groups is either entirely absent, or shows itself only in the 

 form of a more or less distinct festoon. 2 The first quill- 

 feather is always long, the second longer than the third 

 and fourth, so that the wing acquires a sharp or pointed 

 form, instead of the rounded outline of the so-called ig- 

 noble tribes ; and the points of the wings, when closed, 

 usually attain to the end of the tail. 



' Air Macgillivray mentions, that the digestive organs of the common buzzard so greatly resemble those of the golden eagle, that 

 a figure of the one might serve for that of the other. 



' It is, we believe, in vain that naturalists attempt exceptionless precision in their generalities ; for, in this very group, the jer- 

 Cilcon, in one sense the noblest of all, frequently wants the tooth, and exhibits a bill festooned like the eagle's. 



