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ON THE CLASSIFICATION OP BIRDS. 



The genus Dcedalion has been placed with the hawks 

 by M. Cuvier ; but, as we have not met with either of 

 the two species of which it is said to be composed, we 

 do not admit it in the circle. Far better evidence, 

 however, exists for considering the Halicetus pondiceri- 

 anusoi India (fig*99<) as one of the leading types of this 

 99 a^SS^ g rou P:> smce ^ unites some 



from one to the other without any abrupt transi- 

 tion. Upon what ground this bird, even by the pro- 

 moters of new falconine genera, has been placed in the 

 same group with the osprey, does not appear, seeing 

 that its affinity to Aster is much more apparent than to 

 Pandion. Anxious, however, to avoid, where it is pos- 

 sible, the creation of more names in this already over- 

 burthened family than is necessary, we shall retain that 

 of Halicetus to the bird in question, and to such as re- 

 semble it, leaving the osprey s or fishing eagles alone in 

 the genus Pandion. The feet of Halicetus pondiceri- 

 anus very much resemble those of an Aster, but they 

 are proportionably rather smaller in their details, al- 

 though quite the same in general structure : both the 

 anterior and the posterior scales are smooth ; but the first 

 are broader, and the latter appear to be composed of a 

 single piece. We suspect this bird, although nothing- 

 is known of its manners, to be a fisher ; for the soles 

 of its feet are particularly rough, like those of the 

 osprey, or at least are formed upon the same principle : 

 all the nails, however, are grooved underneath, and the 

 wings are so long that they reach to the end of the 

 tail. Notwithstanding these latter differences, the bird 

 before us may possibly be an aberrant species of Pan- 

 dion; but, for the present, we cannot but consider it 



