﻿BIRDS OF PREY. FALCONS. 



291 



and we have elsewhere* stated our reasons for consider- 

 ing that the three aberrant groups, namely, the eagles, 

 the kites, and the buzzards, form a distinct circle of 

 their own. We may, therefore, consider the circular 

 succession of these three, or five, divisions as substan- 

 tiated by the following details, and we may at once 

 proceed to the analogical verification of the group. Our 

 first test will be to compare it with the tribes of the 

 Insessores, or perchers, because its analogies will come 

 more home to the student than if he had to trace them 

 through the medium of the orders of birds. 



FAMILY FALCONIDiE. — The Falcons, 



Genus. 



Falco ' f The most perfectly organised in their ] c 



i-alco. i respective circles. j lomrosTres. 



AcripiTFR f The most conspicuously toothed ; wings 7 t)evttrostrfs 

 Accipiter. £ rounded, rather short. J dentirostres. 



Buteo. Wings very long ; hunt upon the wing. Fissirostres. 



rFeet remarkably short; wings long;} 

 Cumindis. -J the upper mandible considerably pro- >Tenuirostres. 

 C jecting. 3 



a n „„ » S Size lar 8 e 5 bodv heavy ; feet verv thick 7 p , D/V _„ D 

 Aquil a. I and s f ro ' ng . fiead fr y uently crested . j Rasores. 



So fully is the theory of variation exemplified by this 

 tabular comparison, that the professed ornithologist re- 

 quires no additional evidence that these analogies are 

 founded in nature. A few observations, however, tend- 

 ing to elucidate them to the student, may not be mis- 

 placed. The noble falcons, like the conirostral birds, 

 are well known as the most perfectly or highly organised 

 of any part of their family; and we should not be at 

 all surprised to find, when their history becomes better 

 known, that they are, like the conirostres among birds, 

 and the quadrumana among the quadrupeds, pre-emi- 

 nently distinguished in their powers of grasping. In- 

 deed, this fact may be safely assumed, since it has been 

 well ascertained that the Peregrine and one or two other 

 typical falcons, when darting into the middle of a flock 

 of ducks or a covey of partridges, will strike down with 

 its talons many other individuals besides that which it 



* Northern Zoology, vol. ii. pp. 9, 10. 

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