† Tarsus about equal to the middle toe.
§ Claws short and robust; two outer quills with their inner webs cut.
5. Ictinia. Commissure irregularly toothed and notched; front of tarsus with transverse scutellæ. Tail emarginated; third quill longest.
6. Elanus. Commissure without irregularities; front of tarsus with minute roundish scales. Tail double-rounded; second quill longest.
§§ Claws long and slender; five outer quills with inner webs cut.
7. Rostrhamus. End of bill bent downward, with a long pendent hook; inner edge of middle claw slightly pectinated, or serrated. Tail emarginated; third or fourth quill longest.
†† Tarsus very much longer than the middle toe.
¶ Front of tarsus unfeathered, and, with the posterior face, covered with a continuous series of broad transverse scutellæ.
α. Form very long and slender, the head small, the tail and legs long and claws excessively acute; bill weak, compressed, very high through the base, the culmen greatly ascending basally, and the cere much arched; commissure usually with a very prominent “festoon.”
8. Circus. Face surrounded by a “ruff” of stiffened, differently formed feathers, as in the Owls. Tarsus more than twice as long as the middle toe. Wing very long, hardly concave beneath; third to fourth quill longest; outer four with inner webs sinuated.