﻿BIRDS OF PREY. BUZZARDS. 317 



Buteo pterocles of Temminck * (fig. 110. a), has so much 

 the character of an eagle in its lengthened and entire bill, 

 that it probably forms the most aberrant type of either 



Aquila or Buteo. We 

 have drawings and 

 notes made from spe- 

 cimens sent from 

 Mexico, but they 

 are not sufficient to 

 determine this, al- 

 though a glance at 

 the contour of the 

 bill will strengthen 

 our suspicions on the 

 accuracy of its pre- 

 sent location. The 

 same uncertainty 

 prevents us from 

 offering any original 

 remarks upon the honey-buzzards, made into the sub- 

 genus Pernis by M. Cuvier, and of which one of the 



two described species 

 is found in Europe. 

 Although the proba- 

 ble course of the bu- 

 teonine circle cannot 

 be traced, we place 

 the common kite 

 (fig. 1 11.) as the fis- 

 sirostral type, for the 

 following reasons : — It is clearly and confessedly allied 

 to Nauclerus by its short feet, long wings, and forked 

 tail ; and as the equally close affinity of Nauclerus to 

 Elanus has been justly insisted upon, the legitimate 

 inference follows that Nauclerus stands at the confines 



* It is impossible to justify this epithet upon .looking to the figures in- 

 tended for this species given in the Planches Colorees, where it seems thick, 

 heavy, and short-tailed, instead^of slender, elegant, and long-tailed. d 



