Falco ossifragus Linnaeus 1766
Creators: name: Schmitt, Stéphane
name: Gouraud, Christophe
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Aves
Accipitriformes
Falconidae
Falco
Falco ossifragus

description: 10. Buffon’s “Orfraie” (full species)   10.1. Linnaeus (1758): not considered.   
  10.2. Brisson (1759a: 437-440, 1763a: 125-126): “ GRAND AIGLE DE MER ”, “ AQUILA OSSIFRAGA ” , species 9 of genus IX (“Aigle”, “ Aquila ”), order III, section 1.   
 OBSERVATION. — No direct observation. Description mainly borrowed from Aldrovandi (“ Ossifraga ”).   
 REFERENCES. — Belon (1555: 97-98), “ Ossifragus ”; Gessner (1585: 203), “ Ossifraga ”; Gessner (1585: 542), “ Harpe ”; Aldrovandi (1599: 222-228), “ Ossifraga ”; Aldrovandi (1599: 408), “ Harpa ”; Schwenckfeld (1603: 220), “ Aquila Ossifraga ”, direct observation; Belon (1605: 138), “ Ossifraga ”; Jonston (1657: 5, pl. II, IV, V), based on Aldrovandi; Charleton (1668: 63 no. 8, 1677: 71 no. 8), “ Ossifraga ”, “ Harpa ”; Willughby (1676: 29, pl. 1), “ Haliaetus ”; Sibbald (1684: 14), “ Haliaeetus ” (in a list of Scottish birds); Ray (1713: 7 no. 3), “ Haliaeetus, seu Ossifraga ”; Kolb (1741: 140), “Orfraie ou Ossifrague”; Rzączyński (1745: 363), “ Aquila Ossifraga ”, based on Aldrovandi, Schwenckfeld, etc.; Klein (1750: 41 no. 5), “ Aquila Ossifraga ”, based on Aldrovandi and other sources.   
DISTRIBUTION. — Europe.  
 MODERN IDENTIFICATION. — Sharpe (1874: 302) and Dresser (1871 -1881: 551) identify Brisson’s “Grand Aigle de mer” with Linnaeus’s “ Falco albicilla ” (1758). Indeed, Brisson’s description, based on textual scholarship only, corresponds to an immature * Haliaeetus albicilla (Linnaeus, 1758) (a bird almost as large as the golden eagle, body brown, whitish and rusty, twelve brown and white rectrices with a black tip, etc.), that is, the same as the “Aigle à queue blanche” and the “Petit Aigle à queue blanche” (see above). However, some of the mentioned sources mix up data borrowed from ancient authors relating to that species and to * Pandion haliaetus (Linnaeus, 1758), or to nearly unidentifiable birds of prey (e.g., Belon’s “ Ossifragus ” and Gessner’s “ Ossifraga ”). Kolb’s “Orfraie ou Ossifrague” from South Africa is not identifiable either; in any case, it is not * Haliaeetus albicilla.   
  10.3. Linnaeus (1766: 124-125): “ FALCO OSSIFRAGUS ”  G42, S4, order “ Accipitres ”.   
REFERENCES. — Gessner (1585:“263” = 203); Aldrovandi (1599: 222, 225, 228); Brünnich (1764: [3] no. 13, “ Falco Ossifraga ”); Willughby (1676: 29, pl. 1); Ray (1713: 7 no. 3).  
DISTRIBUTION. — Europe, including Sweden.  
 MODERN IDENTIFICATION. — Sharpe (1874: 302) and Dresser (1871 -1881: 551) identify Linnaeus’s Falco ossifragus with the Falco albicilla of the same author, namely, * Haliaeetus albicilla (Linnaeus, 1758); it is overall correct according to the description and the mentioned sources, which better correspond to that species than Brisson’s “Grand Aigle de mer” does.   
 MODERN NOMENCLATURE. — Falco ossifragus Linnaeus, 1766 is considered an available name,   
 a junior synonym of Falco albicilla Linnaeus, 1758.   
  10.4. Buffon in Buffon & Guéneau de Montbeillard (1771a: 112- 123, pl. III), quarto edition; (1771b: 88-96, PE 112 and 415), folio edition: “ ORFRAIE ” .   
PLATE III. — “L’Orfraie ou Aigle de mer”.  
 PE 112. — “Le Grand Aigle de mer” (published in July 1766).   
 PE 415. — “L’Orfraie ou L’Ossifrage. Le grand Aigle de mer femelle” (published in March 1770).   
 REMARK. — The French term “orfraie”, derived from Latin “ ossifraga ” (“bone breaker”), designated several large diurnal or nocturnal birds of prey. Buffon assigns it to a precise species, * Haliaeetus albicilla, but he does not realize that it is the same as his “Pygargue”. The English term “osprey” has the same origin and corresponds to * Pandion haliaetus.   
 OBSERVATION. — Direct observation of at least two specimens of unknown origin (apparently not from Réaumur’s collection); the comparison of PE 415 with the figure of the “Aigle de mer” in Salerne (1767: pl. II) suggests that it may be the same specimen.   
 REFERENCES. — Aristotle (“ phênê ”); Pliny the Elder (“ haliaetus ”); Aldrovandi (1599: 226); Sagard (1632: 300); Kolb (1741: 140); Brisson (1759a: 437); Salerne (1767: 5), “Aigle de mer, dit Orfraie”, direct observation.   
DISTRIBUTION. — “Almost everywhere in Europe”, “lakes of North America”.  
 IDENTIFICATIONS PROPOSED BY LATER AUTHORS FOR PE 112 AND 415. — Boddaert (1783: 7, 25): Brisson (1759a: 437); Linnaeus (1766: 124), G42, S4; Latham (1781: 30 no. 4), “Sea Eagle”, refers to Linnaeus’s “ Falco Ossifragus ”, Brisson’s “Grand Aigle de mer”, Buffon’s “Orfraie”, PE 112 and 415, etc., the British Museum and the Leverian collection.   
 Kuhl (1820: 3, 7): “ Falco Ossifragus L.” (PE 112); “ Falco Ossifragus L.”, juvenile (PE 415).   
 Temminck (1839: 3): PE 112: “Aigle pygargue”, male, “middle age, two-year-old”, “ Falco albicilla. Linn.”; PE “405” (= 415): idem, young female of the year.   
 Gray (1849: 31 and 33): “ Haliaetus albicilla ”.   
 MODERN IDENTIFICATION. — The birds represented on PE 112 and PE 415 as well as on De Sève’s plate III (the latter is maybe the same as that on PE 415) are probably * Haliaeetus albicilla (Linnaeus, 1758), although the claws of the first one are a little two small, and the bill of the second one not massive enough; in any case, they are juveniles. On the cited sources, see Brisson and Linnaeus (1766). The tradition relating to “marine eagles” is very confused. In particular, the “ phênê ” of the Ancients is unidentifiable. Buffon indicates North America in the distribution of this species because of a passage in the account of French traveler Gabriel Sagard, who briefly mentioned “eagles” living near Canadian lakes, which were probably * Haliaeetus leucocephalus (Linnaeus, 1766).   
  10.5. Gmelin (1788: 255-256): “ FALCO OSSIFRAGUS ”  G42, S4, order “ Accipitres ”.   
 REFERENCES. — Brisson (1763a: 125); Gessner (1585: “263” = 203); Aldrovandi (1599: 222, 225, 228); Brünnich (1764: [3] no. 13), “ Falco Ossifraga ”; Ray (1713: 7 no. 3);  Buffon & Guéneau de Montbeillard (1771a: 112, pl. III) and PE 112, 415 ; Pennant (1776: 167 [no. 44], pl. 17, 1785: 194 no. 86), “Sea Eagle”; Willughby (1678: 59, pl. 1), “Sea-Eagle or Osprey”; Latham (1781: 30 no. 4), based on Linnaeus, Brisson, Buffon, PE 112, PE 415, etc., the British Museum, and the Leverian collection.   
DISTRIBUTION. — Europe, North America, “Botany Island” (i.e., Botany Bay, Australia).  
 MODERN IDENTIFICATION. — * Haliaeetus albicilla (Linnaeus, 1758). On the mentioned sources, see Brisson, Linnaeus (1766), and Buffon. The erroneous mention of North America is borrowed from Buffon, Pennant, and Latham, and corresponds, in fact, to * Haliaeetus leucocephalus (Linnaeus, 1766). Latham mentions “Botany Island” (Australia), relying on the account of James Cook’s travels; the bird in question was obviously neither * Haliaeetus albicilla nor * Haliaeetus leucocephalus (both absent from Australia).
description: Published as part of Schmitt, Stéphane & Gouraud, Christophe, 2024, The significance of Buffon and Guéneau de Montbeillard's Histoire naturelle des oiseaux ([1765] - 1783) in the taxonomy of birds: General presentation and correspondence between Buffon's " eagles " and the species acknowledged by Linnaeus (1758, 1766), Brisson (1759 - 1762), and Gmelin (1788 - 1789), pp. 361-409 in Zoosystema 46 (16) on pages 391-392, DOI: 10.5252/zoosystema2024v46a16, http://zenodo.org/record/12667134