INTRODUCTION. 
xxi 
The following synoptical table will give a general view of the whole; it contains all the additional 
information I have received, or been able to procure, during the progress of the work ; the characters of 
the new genera I have found it necessary to institute. Sec. ; and the references to the volumes in which the 
respective plates are arranged will render it easy to consult and to quote them. 
Order RAPTORES, HI 
Family FALCONID^, Leac/i. 
Genus Aquila, Briss. 
Numerous species of this genus exist in Asia and Europe; the form also occurs in Africa, and in North 
America; so far as I am aware it is not found in South America, and two species are all that are known in 
Australia. 
1. Aquila fucosa, Cuv. .............. Vol. I. PL 1. 
Vultur audax, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. ii. 
Aquila cuneicaudata, Brehm, Isis, 1845, p. 356. 
(^Uroaetus) audax, Kaup, Classif der Sang, und Vog., p. 12. 
This fine Eagle ranges over the whole of the southern portion of Australia and Van Diemen's Land, but I have 
no positive evidence of its having been seen in the intertropical regions of the country. 
2. Aquila Morphnoj'des, Gould ' Vol. I. PI. 2. 
A beautiful representative of the Aquila pennata of Europe and India. Since the discovery of this bird at 
Yarrundi in New South Wales, when I obtained only a single specimen, T. C. Eyton, Esq. has received a second 
example in a collection obtained at Port Phillip, and a third was procured by Captain Sturt at the Dep6t in South 
Australia. 
Genus Ichthyiaetus, Lafr. 
The members of this genus inhabit India and the whole of the Indian Islands, and enjoy an equally extensive 
range over the continent of Africa. Their natural abode is the margins of large rivers and inlets of the sea ; and 
their chief food consists of fish, dead cetacea and carrion. 
3. Ichthyiaetus leucogaster . . . . . . ... , . . . Vol. I. PI. 3. 
Halidetus (^Pontodetus) leucogaster, Kaup, Classif. der Siiug. und Vog., p. 122. 
Cmicuma leucogaster, List of Birds in Brit. Mus. Coll., Part I. 2nd edit. p. 24. 
Found all round the coast of Australia, and said to extend its range to India and even to Africa ; but this wants 
confirmation. 
An opinion has been lately expressed that the enormous nests observed by Captains Cook and Flinders had been 
constructed by some species of Dinornis ; but it is quite evident from the account given by Flinders that they must 
have been formed by a bird of the Raptorial order, and I have no doubt that they were the nests of the present bird. 
" Near Point Possession," says Flinders, " were found two nests of extraordinary magnitude. They were built 
upon the ground, from which they rose abo^'^e two feet ; and were of vast circumference and great interior capacity, 
the branches of trees and other matter, of which each nest was composed, being enough to fill a small cart. 
Captain Cook found one of these enormous nests upon Eagle Island, on the east coast." Subsequently Flinders 
found another of these nests in which were " several masses resembling those which contain the hair and bones of 
mice, and are disgorged by the Owls in England after the flesh is digested. These masses were larger, and consisted 
of the hair of seals and of land animals, of the scaly feathers of penguins, and the bones of birds and small 
quadrupeds. Possibly the constructor of the nest might be an enormous Owl; and if so, the cause of the bird being 
never seen, whilst the nests were not scarce, would be from its not going out until dark ; but from the very open and 
