﻿304 ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 



must not suppose that a bird wherein two, or perhaps 

 only one, of these marks can be traced, is therefore 

 not an Accipiter. On the contrary, he must expect to 

 find birds which blend the characters of the two groups 

 so equally, that he will be compelled to consult the sub- 

 genera before he can determine the name of his speci- 

 men : nay, it frequently happens that an aberrant form 

 will retain but one of those distinctions of the group 

 with which it is naturally associated. This, in fact, we 

 have seen in Gampsonyx Swainsonii, and it is equally 

 apparent in the subgenus, which appears to represent 

 that bird in the circle of Accipiter, named by M. Vieillot 

 Ictinea. The best known species, Ictinea plumbed*, 

 from its very long wings and short even tail, is obvi- 

 ously a fissirostral type ; but whether it belongs to this 

 genus, or naturally fills the station we have for the pre- 

 sent given to Gampsonyx, must be left for future deter- 

 mination. Such questions, indeed, — where those types 

 which have been personally examined are few and far be- 

 tween — should always be left open for future discovery. 

 The bird of which we are now speaking is unquestion- 

 ably an aberrant form, either actually entering the circle 

 of Falco, or the means by which that circle is united on 

 one side to Accipiter, or on the other to Buteo. It is a 

 buzzard in its wings, an Aster in its feet, and as much of 

 a hawk as of a falcon in its bill. {fig. 97-) This latter 

 character, in short, decides its 

 intimate connection to Falco : 

 the half festooned tooth and 

 its feet lead us to consider 

 it as an aberrant Accipiter, 

 while, in its very long wings, 

 it may be said to have an af- 

 finity to Lophotes. On these 

 considerations we place Ictinea, provisionally, as the 

 first subgenus of Accipiter, as a medium of connecting 

 Lophotes with the accipitrine falcons. On the typical 

 subgenus Accipiter, whose characteristics have been 

 * Falco plumbeus Lath. Milvus Cenc'hrus Vieil. 



