12 
FALCONING. ELANUS. 
the cere. Legs rather long ; tarsus very short, remarkably 
thick, covered all round with hexagonal scales ; toes also 
remarkably thick, the outer versatile larger than the inner, 
all scutellate only towards the end, and covered beneath 
with prominent, conical, acuminate scales ; claws long, 
curved, convex beneath, tapering to a fine point. Plumage 
compact, imbricated ; feathers of the head and neck narrow, 
acuminate ; of the tarsus short and very narrow, without the 
elongated external tufts seen in all the other genera. Tail 
rather long, a little rounded. Intestine extremely long and 
slender, its greatest width 2^ twelfths, the smallest J twelfth. 
15. 1. Pandion Haliaetus. Common Osprey. — Fish Hawk. 
Fishing Eagle. 
Plate LXXXI. Adult male. 
Bill bluish-black, cere light blue, feet pale grejdsh-blue tinged an- 
teriorly with yellow. General colour of upper parts deep umber-brown, 
the tail barred with whitish on the inner webs ; the upper part of the 
head and neck white, the middle part of the crown dark brown ; a 
broad band of the latter colour from the bill down the side of the neck ; 
lower parts white, the neck streaked with light brown ,* anterior tibial 
feather tinged with brown. Young with the feathers of the upper 
parts broadly tipped with brownish-white, the lower pure white. 
Male, 28, 54. Female, 25|, 58. 
From Texas northward, and throughout the interior, as well as 
along the north-west coast. Resident in the south. 
Fish Hawk, Falco Haliaetus, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. v. p. 13. 
Falco Haliaetus, Bonap. Syn. p. 26. 
Fish Hawk or Osprey, Fa^l^o Haliaetus, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. i. p. 415, v. v. p. 362. 
GENUS VI. ELANUS, Sav. ELANUS. 
Bill short, small, very wide at the base, much compressed 
toward the end ; upper mandible with the dorsal line con- 
vex and declinate to the end of the cere, then decurved, the 
sides slightly convex, the tip narrow and acute, the edges 
with a distinct festoon, lower mandible with the angle very 
wide and long, the dorsal line very short, and slightly con- 
vex, the tip obliquely truncate, and narrow. Nostrils ellip- 
tical, rather large, about half-way between the cere and 
