|Family II. FALCONINAE. FALCONINE BIRDS. GENUS II. BUTEO,
Bechst. BUZZARD. |Genus||BUTEO HARRISII, Aud. The varying modes
of flight exhibited by our diurnal birds of prey have always
been to me a subject of great interest, especially as by means
of them I have found myself enabled to distinguish one species
from another, to the farthest extent of my power of vision. On
considering this matter, I have become fully convinced that a
greater length of the wings in any one species is not, as most
naturalists have imagined, an indication of its greater power of
flight. Writers of the present day who, judging of the flight of
birds from such circumstances, think that those species which
have longer and, as they suppose, more complete wings, fly with
more rapidity than those whose wings are comparatively short,
are, in my opinion, quite mistaken. They judge in this matter,
not from experience, but from appearance, having previously
determined theoretically that a long wing is a more efficient
instrument than a short