4 KOTES ON THE C'EUB AND LEGS OF BIRDS, 



this appendage, and some writers consider it to be connected with the sense 

 of smell. It is not confined to this order, for the Parrots, which are exclusively 

 vegetable feeders, have a cere, although indeed on a much smaller scale, "No 

 other land birds," says Svvainson, "possess this appendage; nor can it be said 

 to exist, under the same form, in any other birds, excepting some of the 

 Rasorial orders: most of the Cranes, Herons, etc. have the spuce between the 

 eye and the bill naked and soft; but this is merely from the ordinary skin 

 being destitute of feathers." Ornithological writers seem to have paid com- 

 paratively little attention to the cere, as it frequently happens that, in the 

 description of species, any mention of this part is altogether wanting. Its 

 colour often furnishes cause for a diversity of statements, which may arise 

 from a want of minute accuracy, or from its having been noted some time 

 after the death of the bird, during which a considerable change may have 

 taken place. The colours in young birds are often considerably different from 

 their appearance when in adult plumage, so that they cannot be referred to 

 for any confirmation or denial of the rule which we are attempting to prove. 

 In the following remarks it has been found convenient to follow the 

 arrangement proposed by Mr. Swainsou, in his ^'Classification of Birds" in 

 Lardner's Cyclopaedia: — 



FAMILY I.— YULTUBID^. 



The Griffon Vulture, ( Vultur fulvus,) a specimen of which strayed into Cork 

 harbour in the spring of 1843, has bluish black cere and legs; these parts in 

 the Turkey Vulture, (Gathartes aura,) nearly approach a blood red tint; in 

 the Californian Vulture, (C. Calif ornianus,) the cere is yellowish red and the 

 legs yellowish grey, the same colour predominating in both; in the adult 

 Egyptian Vulture, (^Neophron percnopteras,) both these parts are yellow, 



FAMILY II.— FALCONIDiE, 



Sub-family I. — Aquilince, (the Eagles.) — The cere and legs of the Osprey, 

 (^Pandion haliaetos,) are blue; of the White-headed Osprey of Australia, {P. 

 leucocephalus,) bluish lead-colour; in the Wedge-tailed Eagle of Australia, 

 (Aqaila facosa,) the Imperial Eagle, (.4. imperialis,) the Spotted Eagle, {A. 

 noeoia,) the Golden Eagle, {A. chrysaetos,) with many others, both cere and 

 legs are yellow; these parts are whitish yellow in the Little Australian Eagle, 

 [A. morphnoidcs,) and also in the White-headed Eagle, (A. leucocephala,) 

 which is the one chosen as the emblem of the American Republic, a choice 

 with which Benjamin Franklin and J. J. Audubon are by no means satisfied; 

 in the Short-toed Eagle of Europe, {Circaelos hrachydactylus,) both are of 

 a bluish colour. 



Sub-family II. — Gymindinoe, (the Kites.) — In this division we meet with 

 what appears to be an exception in the case of the Brazilian Caracara, 

 {Polyhotms Braziliensisj) which, according to Audubon, has the cere carmine 

 and the feet yellow; but as he himself mentions that the colours in the specimen 

 which he examined began to fade immediately after it was shot, may not 



