30b' 
ON THE CLASSIFICATION OP BIRDS. 
from one 
The genus Dcedalmi has been placed with the hawks 
by M. Cuvier ; but, as we have not met with either of 
the two species of which it is said to be composed, we 
do not admit it in the circle. Far better evidence, 
however, exists for considering the Haliatus pondioeri- 
anus of India {fig-99-) ot>e of the leading types of this 
group, since it unites some 
of the characters of Aceipitev 
and Aqtiila; and as we have 
now traced this generic circle 
to where, from theory, it 
should touch that of the 
eagles, this is the very form 
which win enable us to pass 
without any abrupt transi- 
tion. Upon what ground this bird, even by the pro- 
moters of new falconine genera, has been placed in the 
same group with the osprey, does not appear, seeing 
that its affinity to Aster is much more apparent than to 
Pandion. Anxious, however, to avoid, where it is pos- 
sible, the creation of more names in this already over- 
burthened family than is necessary, w^e shall retain that 
of Haliietus to the bird in question, and to such as re- 
semble it, leaving the ospreys or fishing eagles alone in 
the genus Pandion. The feet of Halieetus pondiaeri- 
anus very much resemble those of an Aster, but they 
are proportionably rather smaller in their details, al- 
though quite the same in general structure : both the 
anterior and the posterior scales are smooth ; but the first 
are broader, and the latter appear to be composed of a 
single piece. We suspect this bird, although nothing 
is known of its manners, to be a fisher ; for the soles 
of its feet are particularly rough, like those of the 
osprey, or at least are formed upon the same principle : 
all the nails, however, are grooved underneath, and tlie 
wings are so long that they reach to the end of the 
tail. Notwithstanding these latter differences, the bird 
before us may possibly be an aberrant species of Pan- 
dion; but, for the present, we cannot but consider it 
