6 
FALCO COOPERII. 
we admit Hy dr abates ( Fuligula , Nob .) as distinct from 
Anas , and the various genera that have been dismem- 
bered from Lanius, at the £ame time that we reject, as 
genera, the different groups of hawks ? To this we can 
only reply, that we are ourselves entirely convinced, 
that all the subgenera adopted in our synopsis among 
the Falcones of North America, are quite as distinct 
from each other as Coccyzus and Cuculas, or Corvus and 
Garrulus. The latter genus we have admitted after 
Temminck, who is opposed to new genera among the 
hawks, though Astur and Elanus certainly require to be 
separated no less than the two genera that Temminck 
himself has established in the old genus Vultur . 
No living naturalist (with the exception of those who, 
through a sort of pseudo-religious feeling, will only 
admit as genera groups indicated as such by Linne) has 
adhered longer than ourselves to large genera, at the 
same time that we could not deny the existence of 
subordinate natural groups. We will not pretend to 
deny that these are of equal rank with some recognized 
as genera in other families, and we can only say, that 
we consider it doubtful, in the present unsettled state 
of the science, what this rank ought to be. We 
therefore, in the instances above quoted, consider it of 
little importance whether these groups be considered as 
genera or subgenera. 
But what is certainly of great importance is, to 
preserve uniformity in all such cases ; to make co- 
ordinate divisions, and give corresponding titles to 
f roups of equal value. This uniformity, however 
esirable, cannot, in the actual state of ornithology, be 
easily attained ; and we have decided, after much 
hesitation, to continue to employ subgenera. In doing 
this, we are moreover influenced by the great difficulty 
that is met with, in some cases, in determining the 
proper place of a species partaking of the characters of 
several groups, yet not in the least deserving to be 
isolated ; such as Falco borealis , which is almost as much 
an Astur as a Buteo , and has been placed by authors, 
according to their different views, in both these groups. 
