﻿302 ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 



some of the buzzards have the smallest heads among the 

 Falconidce, and that this peculiarity is very remarkable 

 in Gampsonyx. Upon the whole, therefore, we are dis- 

 posed, for the present, to place this singular bird as 

 representing the fifth subgenus of Falco; since it seems 

 to unite some of the characters of Buteo with those of the 

 typical falcons, and has a singular relation to Aviceda by 

 its broad foot and robust tarsus, half feathered from 

 the knee. Our doubts, indeed, upon this point, are 

 more drawn from theoretic considerations, than from 

 any thing in Gampsonyx which decidedly militates 

 against its being the fissirostral type. We should have 

 looked for a larger bird, with longer wings and some 

 indication of the falcon's tooth, as in Ictinea ; but not 

 one of these are characters absolutely essential, and the 

 objections may be entirely removed by the discovery of 

 a larger species of Gampsonyx, or of one which, as in 

 the instance of the aberrant Harpagus ccerulescens, 

 possessed more of the falcon characters than the solitary 

 species we as yet know. 



(246.) Concentrating the essence of the preceding 

 remarks, we shall find that the circle of the subgenera 

 of Falco, when compared with that of the entire family, 

 will represent them in the following manner : — 



Subgenera of Genera of the 



Falco. 1. Typical group. Falconidae. 



ev»//v> f Pre-eminently typical ; bill acutely toothed ; 7 \? . T nn 



taico. £ wings pointed, rather long. j*ALca 



2. Sub-typical group. 



Harpagu, { ^ST^™"™ ' ^ Ac — 



3. Aberrant group. 

 Lophotes. Feet short ; head crested. Aquila. 



Aviceta. {^SS^Sr^t™- 



Gamvsony*. \^{%^ °< f " d > head ] Buteo. 



By throwing each of these columns into their respective 

 circles, and then bringing them into juxtaposition, the 

 same results will follow. 



