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Show 170 DR. J. J. KAUP ON NISI AND ASTURES. [Jail. 24, generic marks of other species; and if the number and shape of the emarginations in Tachyspiza are generic, they must be generic also in the others. In addition to these distinctions, I have taken into account the shape and the markings of the tail; for as yet I have not met with a true Nisus having five emarginations on the inner vane of the wings, which at the same time had seven to twenty-four bars on its tail, like the Uraspizee, which are confined to N e w Holland and the Indian archipelago. In consequence of these conclusions, the Sparrow-Hawks of New Holland and India have been divided by me into the genera Teraspiza, Tachyspiza, Erythrospiza, and Uraspiza. In adopting these more limited genera there arises the great advantage of being able to characterize the species easily and with certainty in a few words, and one is not led astray by trifling analogies to throw together species from different groups. According to m y method only those really akin will be thrown together. Erythrospiza trinotata and Teraspiza minulla both have white cross bars on the surface of the dark tail; but it would be an error to place the two together on this account. Nor would it be correct to bring E. trinotata with its short toes into proximity with Accipiter cruentus, which has also the shortest toes of its genus. The length of the middle toe or of the toes generally has only a specific value in the Nisi, and not a generic one. If m y friend Dr. Schlegel had compared carefully m y diagnoses of the genera Uraspiza with Accipiter cruentus, he would not have considered Gould's Astur cruentus identical with his Nisus cruentus seu griseogularis. Schlegel's N. cruentus has the second to the sixth primaries of the outer vane and the first to the fifth of the inner vane emarginated, whilst Gould's A. cruentus has the second to the fifth of the outer vane and the first to the fourth of the inner vane emarginated*. TERASPIZA, Kp. Beak bent more abruptly than that of Nisus, and the concavity behind the hook of the beak deeper. A space round the eyes more naked, as in the noble Falcons. Point of wings very short, and equal to three tenths of the length of the entire wing. Fourth primary the longest; the first to fourth primaries of the inner vane distinctly emarginated; the primaries with the inside always edged. Tail with three bands above and four below. This genus includes the smallest forms of all the Nisi. * If the interior wide vanes of the primaries are in disorder owing to ill treatment, and the emarginations are not easily recognized, it is sufficient to count the cuts of the outer vane, which are better protected. If the second to the sixth primaries of the outer vane are emarginated, five emarginations of the inner vane, beginning from the first primary, will correspond to these. If it happens that a specimen shows only four instead of five, the wing should he examined with care, and it will be found that a feather has fallen out, or is still very small and young, and is thus hidden underneath the quills of the adjoining feathers. |
