278 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



tries surrounding the Mediterranean and Red seas, as well as throughout Africa and 

 in northwestern India. Owing to its very light color it is frequently called the white- 

 vulture; in Africa the Dutch colonists call it the white-crow, and, as it frequently 

 figures in the hieroglyphs of Egypt, it is also known as 'Pharaoh's chicken.' Wher- 

 ever it is abundant its usefulness as a scavenger is recognized, and it is carefully pro- 

 tected by law as well as frequently by superstition, so that in nearly all the cities and 

 towns of southeastern Europe, and in fact wherever it is found in tolerable abundance, 

 it is one of the most familiar objects in the streets, and a group of them may often be 

 seen wrangling for some scrap of offal among the very feet of the horses and camels 

 of a market-place. With the giffons and several other species, it is a never-failing 

 attendant on the deserted battle-field, and, with the help of the jackal and hyena, 

 desecrates many a lonely cemetery. According to Mr. F. G. C. Taylor, in and about 

 Constantinople it is very abundant, sitting on the roofs of the houses, and breeding on 

 the ruined walls and towers of Stamboul. The eggs, three or four in number, and 

 unlike those of other Old World vultures (except V. monachus), are strongly blotched 

 with brown and red, the markings often completely obscuring the ground color. The 

 young birds are of a blackish brown color, after the first year becoming more yellowish, 

 but not assuming the final plumage of the adult mostly white, with the large 

 feathers of the wing black until the third year. It is stated that the bill of the 

 male, which is ordinarily yellow, deepens in color to a clear orange during the breeding 

 season. 



The transition from the vultures to the eagles and buzzards is a natural and not 

 very abrupt one, when we consider that at least two of the genera which we now 

 take up have been sometimes included in one group and sometimes in the other, 

 according to the fancy or conviction of the author handling the subject. 



Under the head of Aquilinae, we propose to consider those forms which are com- 

 monly placed in two separate groups, the Aquilinre or eagles, and the Buteoninae or 

 buzzards. Our reason for this is simply that the two groups are not fairly separable ; 

 that while marked differences aside from size undoubtedly exist between a golden- 

 eagle (Aquild), and a ' hen-hawk ' (Buteo), and even between small groups of which 

 these two are typical members, yet in the presence of the vast number of forms which 

 are admitted to be very closely related, but which cannot come into either group so 

 long as the groups themselves are separated, we cannot do less than merge the two in 

 one and include all the most nearly related forms. The trouble is, however, that 

 having done this, having opened our doors to these homeless robbers, we are in a fail- 

 way to be looked upon as an asylum for discontents, or rattier for those semi-orphans 

 whose parentage we may indeed know, but whose ancestry is as yet involved in 

 obscurity. Thus the harriers will be wanting to come in next, then some of the kites, and 

 perhaps all of the hawks. Under these circumstances, the only thing to do would be 

 to give each applicant a rigid examination and admit him if possible. But at least let 

 us quarantine the carrion-buzzards (Polyborinae) as long as possible, and especially 

 let us be careful not to add insult to injury in the case of the osprey by forcing him 

 into any closer relations with a group the very name of which must always call up 

 painful recollections. 



But to return to facts: the Aquiline group which we have introduced may be in ' 

 general negatively characterized as follows. Bill not toothed as in the falcons, the 

 cutting edge of upper mandible even or sinuate ; face without the imperfect disk of 

 the harriers ; the bony shield over the eye usually prominent ; legs and feet heavier 



