User:Pelagic/sandbox/raptors/brahminy kite

Why is it "Haliastur indus (Boddaert)", and not "Haliastur pondicerianus (Briss.)"?

Here are some notable early descriptions of the Malabar or Pondicherry eagle.

Brisson
Ornithologie, ou, Méthode contenant la division des oiseaux en ordres, sections, genres, especes & leurs variétés, tome 1 (1760), pp. 450–452. Brisson, Mathurin-Jacques, 1723-1806.

French
15. L'Aigle de Pondichery.

Aquila castanea, scapis pennarum nigricantibus; capite, collo & pettore albis, lineolis longitudinalibus fuscis variis ; remigibus sex primoribus ultimâ medietate nigris ; pedibus nudis .... Aquila Ponticeriana.

Il est à peu près de la grosseur du Gerfault. Sa longueur depuis le bout du bec jusqu'à celui de la queue est d'un pied sept pouces, & jusqu'à celui des ongles de feize pouces. Son bec depuis son crochet jusqu'aux coins de la bouche a un pouce sept lignes de long ; sa queue sept pouces trois lignes ; son pied un pouce onze lignes; & celui du milieu des trois doigts antérieurs, joint avec l'ongle , un pouce huit lignes : les latéraux sont un peu plus courts ; & celui de derrière est de la même longueur que l'extérieur de ceux de devant : l'intérieur est le plus court de tous. Il a trois pieds neuf pouces de vol ; & les ailes, lorsqu'elles sont pliées, s'étendent un peu au-delà du bout de la queue.

La tête, la gorge , le col , la poitrine & le haut du ventre sont couverts de plumes blanches , qui ont chacune une ligne brune, fort étroite, qui s'étend selon la longueur de leur tige. Tout le reste du corps, sçavoir le dos, le croupion , le bas-ventre , les côtés , les jambes , les couvertures du dessus & du dessous de la queue , celles du dessus & du dessous des aîles, les plumes scapulaires & l'aîle bâtarde, est marron, & la tige de chaque plume est noirâtre. Les six premières plumes de l'aile sont marron à leur origine, & terminées de noir : toutes les autres sont marron, ont leur tige noire, & sont variées du côté intérieur seulement de quelques petites bandes transversales , noirâtres. Ce qui est marron dans le dessus de ces plumes, est d'un fauve clair dans le dessous. Les barbes extérieures & intérieures de la troisiéme, de la quatrième & de la cinquième des plumes de l'aile , & les barbes extérieures seulement de la sixiéme deviennent tout-à-coup beaucoup plus courtes que les autres, & cela vers l'endroit où se termine la couleur marron. La queue est composée de douze plumes marron : les six du milieu sont terminées d'un fauve clair ; & les trois plus extérieures de chaque côté sont variées du côté intérieur seulement de quelques petites bandes transversales, noirâtres. La peau nue ou membrane, qui couvre la bâse du bec est bleuâtre. Le bec est cendré à son origine, & d'un jaune pâle à son bout. Les pieds sont jaunes ; & les ongles noirâtres. On le trouve à Pondichery, d'où il a été envoyé à M. l'Abbé Aubry , qui le conserve dans son cabinet. Les Malabares adorent cet Oiseau.

Google Translate
It is approximately the size of Gerfault. Its length from the tip of the beak to that of the tail is a foot seven inches, and up to the nails of sixteen inches. Its beak from its hook to the corners of the mouth has a seven inch long lines; his tail seven inches three lines; his foot eleven inch lines; & The middle one of the three front toes, together with the nail, one inch eight lines: the side are a little shorter; & Behind is that of the same length as the outside of the front ones: the interior is the shortest of all. It has three feet nine inches in flight; & Wings, when folded, extend slightly beyond the end of the tail.

The head, throat, neck, chest & upper abdomen are covered with white feathers, each with a brown line, very narrow, which extends along the length of the stem. The rest of the body, to wit the back, rump, the lower abdomen, sides, legs, blankets & top of the underside of the tail, those above & below the wings, feathers scapulars & the bastard wing is brown, and the stem of each pen is blackish. The first six wing feathers are brown in origin, and finished in black: all others are brown, have their black stem, and are varied from the inside only a few small transverse bands, blackish. Which is brown in the top of the feathers is a light fawn in below. Interior & exterior barbs of third, fourth & fifth feathers of the wing, and external burrs become only the sixth all at once much shorter than the others, and it towards the place where the brown ends. The tail is composed of twelve brown feathers: the six middle ended with a light fawn; & Three outermost on each side are different on the inside only a few small transverse bands, blackish. Bare skin or membrane that covers the base of the beak is bluish. The bill is in its original ash, and a pale yellow to its end. The feet are yellow; & Blackish nails. It is found in Pondicherry, where he was sent to Mr. Aubry Abbot, which keeps it in his office. The Malabares love this bird.

Salerne
Salerne (1767) L'histoire naturelle, éclaircie dans une de ses parties principales, l'ornithologie, qui traite des oiseaux de terre, de mer et de riviere, tant de nos climats que des pays étrangers, p. 8

Translation of title: The natural history, clarified in one of its main parts, ornithology, which deals with birds of land, of sea and of river, so of our climate and of foreign countries.

Buffon
Histoire naturelle des oiseaux (1770), tome 1, pp. 190–191.

French
L'oiseau des grandes Indes, dont M. Brisson a donné une description exacte (a), sous le nom d’aigle de Pondichéry. Nous observerons seulement que par sa seule petitesse, on auroit dû l'exclure du nombre des aigles , puisqu'il est de moitié moins grand que le plus petit des aigles : il ressemble au balbuzard par la peau nue qui couvre la basè du bec , qui est d'une couleur bleuâtre , mais il n'a pas comme lui les pieds bleus , il les a jaunes comme les pygargue : son bec cendré à son origine , & d'un jaune pâle à son bout sêmble participer pour les couleurs du bec des aigles & des pygargues ; & ces différences indiquent assèz que cet oiseau est d'une espèce particulière : c'est vraisemblablement l'oiseau de proie le plus remarquable de cette contrée des Indes, puisque les Malabares en ont fait une idole , & lui rendent un culte; mais c'est plutôt par la beauté de son plumage que par fa grandeur ou sa force , qu'il a mérité cet honneur : on peut dire en effet que c'est l'un des plus beaux oiseaux du genre des oisèaux de proie.

(a) L'aigle des Pondichéry. Voyez planche XXXV. Brisson. Ornith. tome 1, page 450.

Google Translate
The bird of the Indies, including Mr. Brisson gave an accurate description under the name Eagle of Pondicherry. We only observe that by its very small size, it would have had to exclude the number of eagles, as it is half as large as the smallest eagles: it looks like the osprey with bare skin that covers the base of the beak, which is of a bluish color, but he did not like her blue feet, it has yellow like eagle: its origin to its ashy beak, and a pale yellow at its tip appears to account for colors beaks of eagles & eagles; And these differences indicate that this bird is quite a special case: it is probably the most remarkable bird of prey of this region of India, since Malabares have made an idol, and worship him; but rather by the beauty of its plumage that by his size or his strength, he deserved this honor: in fact we can say that this is one of the most beautiful birds of the genus of birds of prey.

Adjusted
The bird of the Indies, of which Mr. Brisson gave an accurate description under the name Eagle of Pondicherry. We only observe that by its very small size, it would have had to be excluded from the number of the eagles, as it is half as large as the smallest eagles: it looks like the osprey with bare skin that covers the base of the beak, which is of a bluish color, but it has not like its blue feet, it has yellow like the sea eagle: its beak is ashy at its origin, and a pale yellow at its tip appears to account for beak colours of eagles & sea-eagles; and these differences indicate that this bird is quite a special case: it is probably the most remarkable bird of prey of this region of India, since the Malabares have made it an idol, and worship it; but rather by the beauty of its plumage than by its size or strength, that it deserved this honor: in fact we can say that this is one of the most beautiful birds of the genus of birds of prey.

17xx translation
THE Bird of the East Indies, which Brisson describes accurately, by the name of the Pondicherry Eagle. We shall only observe, that its diminutive size alone ought to exclude it from the Eagles, since it is only half the bulk of the smallest. It resembles the Osprey in the colour of the cere, which is bluish ; but its feet are not blue as in that bird, nor yellow as in the Erne. Its bill, of an ash-colour at its origin, and of a pale yellow at the tip, seems to participate of the colours of the Eagle and the Erne : and these differences sufficiently point out this bird as a distinct species. It is probably the most remarkable bird of prey on the Malabar coast, since the natives make an idol of it, to which they pay adoration; but the beauty of its plumage, rather than its bulk or strength, merits this honour. It is undoubtedly the most elegant of the rapacious tribe.

Latham
According to Gmelin: "Lath. Syn. I. 1. p. 41. n. 21."

Latham, John. A general synopsis of birds, vol. 1, part 1 (1781), pp. 41–42. Latham's description is almost a direct translation of Brisson's.

21. PONDICHERRY E.

L'Aigle de Pondichery, ''Bris. orn.'' i. p. 450. No 15. t. 35.

— ''Buf. ois.'' i. p. 136.

— Pl. enl. 416.

THIS bird, according to the drawing, must be an handsome species. In size it equals the Jerfalcon. Length one foot seven inches. The bill is cinereous, with the tip yellow : cere blueish : colour of the body chesnut ; the shaft of each feather blackish : the head, neck, and breast, are white, with a longitudinal brown line down the middle of each feather : the end-half of the six first prime quills is black : tail-feathers chesnut [sic] ; the six middle feathers are of a pale fulvous colour at the tip ; the three others have narrow blackish bands on the inner webs : legs luteous : claws black.

This species is found at Pondicherry, in the East Indies. It is held as a sacred bird, and worshipped in consequence, by the natives on the coast of Malabar.

Gmelin
Falco pondicerianus, species 71, p.265 in Systema Naturae 13th ed. tome 1 (1788).

Gmelin cites Brisson, Buffon, and Latham; in that order. Brief description in Latin, no differences from Brisson. [I have checked 10th and 12th editions of Linnaeus; F. pondicerianus does not appear therein.]