302 
ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 
some of the buzzards have the smallest heads among the 
JFalconid<Bj and that this peculiarity is very remarkable 
in Gampsnnyx. U|)on the whole, therefore, we are dis- 
posed, for the present, to place this singular bird as 
representing the fifth suhgenus of Falco; since it seems 
to unite some of the characters of Buteo with those of the 
typical falcons, and has a singular relation to Amceda by 
its broad foot and robust tarsus, half feathered from 
the knee. Our doubts, indeed, upon this point, are 
more drawn from theoretic considerations, than from 
any thing in Gampsonyx which decidedly militates 
against its being the fissirostral type. We should have 
looked for a larger bird, with longer wdngs and some 
indication of the falcon’s tooth, as in Ictinea ; but not 
one of these are characters absolutely essential, and the 
objections may be entirely removed by the discovery of 
a larger species of Gampsonyx, or of one which, as in 
the instance of the aberrant Jlarpagm carulescens, 
possessed more of tlie falcon characters than the solitary 
species we as yet know. 
(246.) Concentrating the essence of the preceding 
remarks, we shall find that the circle of the subgenera 
of Falco, when compared with that of the entire family, 
will represent them in the following manner: 
Subgenera of 
Falco. 
Falco. 
, _ . , ■ Genera of the 
1. Typical group. Falcouid®. 
f Pre-eminently typical j bill acutely toothed : > 
C wings pointed, rather long. J ^ alco. 
Harpagus* 
Lophotes. 
Aviceda. 
Gampsonj/x. 
2. Sub-typical group 
f Wings shorter, rounded ; tarsi with entire > . ' 
t transverse scales. r^AcciPiTER. 
3. Aberrant group. 
Feet short j head crested. 
Aquila. 
^ Cy.mi.\dis. 
" '■“torawd; head?,, 
t small J feet Strong. ’ jBlteo. 
f Feet small, very short ; soles broad and flat. 
i teiied; outer toe and claw shortest. 
By throwing each of these columns into their respeclive 
circles, and then bringing them into juxtaposition, the 
same results will follow. 
