I - 
WHITE-TAILED HAWK. 
21 
H 
Vadlant* s opinion, that the Swallow-tailed Hawk (Falco furcatus) 
is closely related to it; and associated with a few other recently 
discovered species, they have been considered as a distinct group 
under Savigny’s name of Elanus. Vieillot adopted the group as 
a genus, but, for what reason we know not, has since changed the 
name to Elanoides. The Hawks of this group are readily distin¬ 
guished from all others, by the superior length of the second 
primary of their elongated wings, by their bill rounded above, 
curved from the base, and not toothed, their hirsute cere, thick, 
short, and wholly reticulated tarsi, half feathered before; toes 
entirely separated, and powerful nails. The head is flattened 
above, the gape wide, and the eyes large, deep sunk, and with 
the orbits greatly projecting above. The colours are also similar 
in the different species, being white, or pale, (bluish-white, &c.) 
with more or less of black. The comparatively even tail of the 
two allied species of which we are treating, eminently distinguishes 
them from the others of the subgenus, which have the tail exceed¬ 
ingly forked. They are remarkable also for another characteristic, 
that of having the nails rounded beneath, and not canaliculate, a 
circumstance that occurs besides only in the subgenus Pandion / 
This character, which we formerly attributed to all the Elani, and 
which we believe we first observed not to exist in the fork-tailed 
species, has induced Mr. Vigors, the English ornithologist, to 
separate the latter as a new genus, under the name of JVauclerus. 
The Female White-tailed Hawk, is sixteen and a half inches 
long, and three feet five and a half inches in extent. The bill is 
black, and measures from the corners of the mouth one inch and 
a half, the sides of the mouth, posterior portion of the lower 
mandible, and cere, bright yellow-orange; bristles on the cere 
* In Pandion , however, it is the middle nail that is rounded, in this species it is the 
lateral and posterior only. 
VOL. II.- 
