18 



ON A SPECIES 



convexity. Beneath, it is obtusely rounded. Considerably beyond the 

 cere, the bill, above, is straight ; thence forward, regularly and gradually 

 sloped into the curve of the hook — which latter is large and acutely 

 pointed. The lower mandible is rounded beneath ; and obtusely point- 

 ed, or, I should rather say, obliquely truncated, at its tip. The inner 

 margins of the bill are entire. The orbits and space between the eye 

 and the bill are naked, save a partial covering of harsh hairs, or 

 bristles, which diverging from the fore angle of the eye, tend chiefly for- 

 wards, partially clothing the sides of the cere and curling upwards above 

 the top of it. About the gape and lower mandible likewise are some scat- 

 tered bristles. The nostrils are obliquely cleft, open, and of an irregular 

 oval shape. The wings are long rather than moderate, and extend to 

 less than three inches of the end of the tail, which is rather more 

 than a foot long. They have the fourth quill longest, but the fifth almost 

 as long ; and the largest quills are slightly emarginated. 



The tail is moderate, well rounded, consisting of twelve feathers. The 

 tarsi are long, naked, reticulated, with the reticulation coarse. The toes 

 are short, thick and fleshy, or gummy ; the outer connected at the base 

 to the middle one, as far as the first joint. The toes are, besides, unequal ; 

 for though the lateral fores are nearly of equal length, the inner is stouter 

 than the outer lateral, or even than the central one. The talons are stout 

 and of fair, but not remarkable length, curvature, and acuteness. The 

 hind talon and inner fore one are the largest, and are of equal size. The 

 central one is as long but not so stout as they are : the inner fore claw, 

 considerably smaller and shorter. The talons are flat within. The 

 above description tallies essentially, as it appears to me, with Shaw's 

 generic character of the Circaeetus, with the single exception of " nostrils 

 lunated" — this bird's nostrils being, rather at least, irregularly ovaL 



