360 SYSTEMATIC ZOOLOGY. 



and the tearing of flesh. Some, like the eagles, 'hawks, 

 and vultures, are strong fliers with excellent powers of 

 sight; the owls, on the other hand, are more dependent 

 upon catching their prey by stealth; and their eyes are 

 adapted to their nocturnal habits. The buzzards and vul- 

 tures depend upon decaying flesh for their food, and their 

 value as scavengers leads to their protection by law in 

 the regions where they occur. 



In the birds of prey, like all that have preceded them 

 in this account, the young, when hatched, are covered 

 with feathers (usually down feathers), and have their 

 powers well developed. In all the remaining orders the 

 young are helpless and nearly naked when they escape from 

 the shell. 



ORDER VI. COLUMBINE (Pigeons). 



The pigeons stand nearest to the Rasores from which; 

 however, they differ in the weaker legs, the large pointed 

 wings, and the fleshy membrane at the base of the beak, 

 pierced for the nostrils. The five hundred different kinds 

 of pigeons show little variety in form. Our domestic 

 pigeons, with their wonderful variations, have descended 

 from the rock-pigeon of Europe. The extinct dodo of the 

 islands east of Africa was a flightless pigeon of large size. 

 The species died out some two hundred years ago. 



ORDER VII. SCANSORES (Climbing Birds). 



These birds have the feet adapted for climbing, two of 

 the toes being directed forwards and two backwards. 

 Some, like the toucans, have enormous bills, others have 

 the beak of moderate size. Here belong the cuckoos, 

 with their reprehensible egg-laying habits, and the well- 



