98 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



white. Tail beneath silky-white, tinged with yellowish. Bill and 

 claws dark (in skin). 



Hab. — Hawaii, Sandwich Island;?. Specimen in Mas. Acad. Phila- 

 delphia. 



This rather singular species appears to belong to a group which con- 

 tains several species of fishing-eagles, some of which are of much larger 

 size than the present bird. In form and general appearance it much 

 resembles icldhyaetas (Horsfield), and P. humilis (Miiller), though 

 smaller, and we have never seen in either of those species, so far as 

 specimens have come under our notice, the yellowish or pale buff color 

 of the plumage of the head and under parts, which prevails in the bird 

 now described. Both of the species mentioned inhal^it islands of the 

 Mahay Archipelago ; the present bird was noticed only at the Sand- 

 wich Islands. 



No specimen of this bird is in the collection of the Expedition. That 

 originally described by Mr. Peale is in the collection of the Academy 

 of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, to which it was presented by 

 John K, Townsend, M.D. It was obtained near Karakakoa Bay, in 

 the Island of Hawaii, and sent to Dr. Townsend by the Rev. Mr. 

 Porbes, who was attached to the Presbyterian Mission to the Sand- 

 Avich Islands. It is the only specimen that we have seen, and for its 

 use, in the preparation of our plate and the present description, we 

 are indebted to the kindness of the gentlemen of the Academy. 



This bird is strictly a member of a subgenus of the generic group 

 Pandion, designated PoUoaetns, by Dr. Kaup (Jardine's Contributions 

 to Ornithology, 1850, p. 72), and is much the smallest of the species, 

 being even smaller than P. humilis. The same group has been called 

 IcJithyaetus, by the Baron de La Fresnaye, a distinguished French 

 ornithologist. 



8. Genus HALIASTUR, Selhy (1840). 



1. Haliastur INDUS {Boddciert) . — The Brahmin Kite. The 

 Pondicherry Eagle. 



Falcoindus, BoDD. Tab. des PI. Enl. Buff. p. 25 (1783). 

 Falco ponticerianus, 6m. Syst. Nat. I, p. 265 (1788). 



