192 
Circin.®, Harriers. 
We agree with Mr Swainson in thinking, that 
the Harriers ( Circus ) are the typical or repre- 
senting form in this sub-family ; and it would have 
been better, perhaps, for that ornithologist at once 
to have changed the name to Circince, than to 
continue what seemed incorrect. We agree also 
with his views in placing the kite and its allies in 
this circle, and withdrawing it as the typical form of 
the preceding. In the system which he has pub- 
lished, one section is not filled up — the Tenui- 
rostral form ; while the analogies of Pernis, ot 
the Honey Buzzards, are left almost without 
notice. The opinion, however, “ that extreme 
shortness of foot”* would indicate the Tenui- 
rostral form in the four sub-families, where it 
yet remained to be discovered, receives strength 
from the structure of this member in these birds. 
The foot is not in proportion much shorter, 
but it exhibits an imperfection of form in rela- 
tion to a raptorial bird, which is very marked, 
and which, taken in connection with the weak 
bill, may naturally lead us to suppose that Pernis 
would represent the Tenuirostral form in the 
Circince , and as such we shall now consider it. 
Lardner's Encyc. p. 319. 
