378 Mr. Vigors's Sketches in Ornithologi/, 



of all. The number of the tail feathers is twelve. This group 

 like the last is a native of the Old World, and is represented by 

 the F. barbatus of Linnaeus. M. Temminck arranges some extra- 

 European birds in this genus, Mhich however do not appear to 

 possess the character of the bearded bill. These most probably 

 will form the extreme group of this division of the family and 

 connect it with the succeeding. 



In the covering of the head and neck, the birds of this genus 

 may be observed to bear a considerable resemblance to the FaU 

 conidce,^ which tliey also emulate in their bold and upright ap- 

 pearance ; the Vultures being for the most part noted for their 

 dull mien, and bending and ungainly postures. In habits also 

 they approach the Falcunidce^ preying more generally upon living 

 animals than upon carrion, and not being gregarious like the 

 typical Vultures^ but feeding solitarily or by pairs. They thus 

 form that division of the present family, which leads immediately 

 to the conterminous family of Falconidw^ from which they may be 

 said to be chiefly distinguished by their moderately curved, and 

 comparatively speaking blunted ungues. This forms a marked 

 character for separating the two groups; the Vultures^ which feed 

 chiefly on dead or diseased animals, and always on the spot + 



* This group which seems to be the $*3V>9 of the ancients is generally re- 

 ferred to as bearing a resemblance to the Eagles. Its plumed head and neck, 

 and the partial approximation in manners noticed above, must have assimi- 

 lated it closely in the eye of casual observers. ^Elian enumerates the i^mn 

 anoong the Acdpitrine tribes. [Lib. XII. c. IV.]: and Pliny refers to the 

 bird " quam barbatam vocant" as an " aquila." [Lib. X. c. III.] The 

 Scholiast upon Homer makes the ^vvij nearly allied to the Eagle. " ^»J>»», 

 ti^os o^ws, ofAoiov acsru''' Not. in Odyss. III. 372. And Antoninus .Libe- 

 rals, when relating the metamorphosis of Periphas into an Eagle, adds that 

 his wife was changed into the <^v)vy) in consequence of her intreaties to become 

 a species corresponding in habits with the former bird. T^evs o iX^wv bis tos 



otKiat T« Tle^i(pocvros^ I'TTotvia-sv o^vi^x AIETON* rviv ^s yvvociycot acvrOyt 



Sfij^E/o-av xxi acvrviv o^vt^ac Trctvc/aii 2YNNOMON TO nEPI4>ANTI, itioivkts 

 4)HNHN." Met. VI. p. 43. Ed. Verheyk. 1774. 



+ This difference extends even to the mode in which both groups convey 

 the support of their young ones to the nest. The FalconidcB bear it in their 

 claws without preying upon it themselves; the Vulturidce devour it, convey 

 it ill their craw, and disgorge it in the nest for their young. See Le VAfLt. 

 Ois. d' Air. torn. 1. p. 29. 



