$Unique_ID{BRD00026}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Genus VII.--Ictinia, Vieillot}
$Subject{Falconinae; Ictinia; }
$Journal{Birds of America:  Volume I}
$Volume{Vol. 1:73}
$Family{Falconinae}
$Genus{Ictinia}
$Species{}
$Common_Name{}
$Log{
Family*00006.txt}

       Portions copyright (c) Creative Multimedia Corp., 1990-91, 1992

                       B I R D S   O F   A M E R I C A .

                    By John James Audubon, F. R. SS. L. & E.

                   ------------------------------------------
                                    VOL. I.
                        --------------------------------


                         GENUS VII.--ICTINIA, Vieillot.


     Bill very short, wide at the base, much compressed toward the end; upper
mandible with the dorsal line decurved in its whole length, the sides slightly
convex, the tip narrow and acute, the edges with an obtuse lobe; lower mandible
with the angle very wide, the dorsal line ascending and convex, the tip rather
broad and obliquely truncate.  Nostrils round, lateral, with a central papilla.
Head rather large, roundish, broad, flattened; neck short, body compact.  Legs
rather short; tarsus stout, covered anteriorly with scutella; toes scutellate
above, scabrous beneath, with pointed papillae; claws rather long, curved,
acuminate, flattened beneath.  Plumage rather compact.  Wings very long, the
third quill longest.  Tail long, emarginate.
     This genus is easily distinguished from Elanus; the tarsi and toes being
scutellate in this, and scaly in that; and the festoon on the upper mandible is
much more prominent in the Ictinia, while the nostrils, instead of being,
elliptical, are round, as in the Falcons.