RAPTORES. 



.97 



Mentioned by Dr. Pickering as having been noticed in the harbor 

 of Singapore. We fail to detect any characters by which Asiatic speci- 

 mens can be distinguished from those of Europe, in the fine series now 

 before us, belonging to the Museum of the Philadelphia Academy, and 

 in fact either can be distinguished only with difficulty from the com- 

 mon bird of the United States. ' 



3. Pandion solitarius {Peale). 



Buteo solitarius, Peale, Zool. U. S. Exp. Exp. Birds, p. 62 (1st edition, 1848). 



Atlas, Ornithology, Plate IV. Adult. 



P. caput et corpus tofum infm flavcsceuti-alha, dorsum, alae caudaque 

 umbrina. Hujus generis minimus. Long. 17 poIHces. 



Form. — The smallest of this genus. Bill rather long, compressed, con- 

 spicuously lobed, and attenuated at the end ; wing long, with the 

 third, fourth, and fifth quills longest and nearly equal ; tail mode- 

 rate, rather short, even at the tip, containing twelve feathers ; tarsi 

 robust, covered in front and behind with rather broad transverse 

 scales ; toes strong and rather lengthened, their under surfaces 

 strongly corrugated or pustulated ; claws very large, long, and 

 curved. 



Dimensions. — Total length (of skin, sex unknown), from tip of bill 

 to end of tail, about seventeen inches ; wing twelve inches ; tail seven 

 and a half inches ; bill, from gape to the point of the upper mandible, 

 one and a half inches ; tarsus two and three-fourths inches ; hind toe 

 and claw one and three-fourths inches. 



Colors. — Sex unknown. Head, and entire under parts, and upper 

 tail-coverts yellowish-white, all the feathers being pure white at their 

 bases, and widely terminated with pale yellowish, most distinct on the 

 breast and tibiae. Occiput and neck behind with oblong longitudinal 

 spots of umber-brown, which is the color also of all the upper surface 

 of the body, wings, and tail. Shafts of quills reddish-chestnut on their 

 upper surface, white beneath ; inner webs of quills widely edged with 



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