ACCIPITRES. 



ORDER I. THE BIRDS OF TREY. 



In this order are included the feathered tribes known under the general names of 

 vultures, eagles, hawks, buzzards, kites, and owls. They are distinguished by a strong, 

 sharp-edged, and aeutcly-pointed biU, more or less curved, but always hooked at the ex- 

 tremity of the upper mandible, which is covered at the base by the membrane called the cere. 

 The nostrils are generally open. With few exceptions, the legs are plimied as far as the top 

 of the tarsus; the latter part is usually bare, but in most of the nocturnal kinds is entirely 

 covered with feathers, and it is partially so in several of the diurnal. The toes are always 

 foiu" in number, very fi-ee in their movements, the outer sometimes versatile, and the 

 whole, with rare exceptions, are provided with strong, sharp, curved, prehensile claws. 



All raptorial birds feed on animal substances, the majority on living prey. Like lions 

 and tigers among quadrupeds, they subdue the weaker tribes by force rather than 

 subtlety, while they have a more extended range, including, as it does, not only the land 

 but the waters ; the verdant meadows, the rmibrageous woods, the barren mountains, 

 and the resounding shore. Surpassing strength and long endurance mark their power 

 of flight. In some form or other, they occur under every clime, greatly varpng, how- 

 ever, both in size and shape, from the finch falcon, which is scarcely larger than a 

 sparrow, to the noblest eagle or the mighty condor of apjiarcntly resistless wing. But 

 generallj- rapacious birds are of considerable bulk, as might be expected from the habits 

 to which they are destined. StiU, their forms are often graceful, their eyes bold and 

 bright, and their actions energetic ; their plumage, too, is often varied, though they are 

 more remarkable for shndes of intermingled black and brown, than for the brilliant and 

 gorgeous hues which array such mtdtitudes of the feathered tribes. 



The notions of cruelty, rapine, and similar qualities, sometimes associated with the 

 carnivorous tribes, are utterly unwarrantable. They may serve to embellish declamation 

 and poetry, when sounding words are employed as a substitute for just ideas, but they 

 are calculated only to mislead the understanding, and are denied a place in philosophical 

 investigation. The eagle, for example, like other birds of the same order, subsists on 

 flesh ; and why ? It is because the structure of his stomach and intestines precludes the 

 ufse of any other food. Destitute of internal organs to reduce different aliment to a 

 nutritive consistence, he fidfils the law of his nature, as the lion does among the 

 mammalia. Nor do these carnivorous propensities constitute an exception to the grand 

 code of the universe. God has ordained that life shall subsist on life ; and however 

 diflerent are the modes of so doing, the principle, the object, and the result, are precisely 

 the same. For are not the peaceful flocks and herds which graze on the plain, or browse 

 on the mountain slope, the destroyers of life also ? The insect races, no loss than the 

 feathered tribes, present many whose place may be properly assigned among the 

 carnivora of animated nature. And even vegetation itself is sustained by what once 

 existed ; for lifeless matter cannot produce life, and never did a blade of grass, or an ear 

 of corn, spring from the naked bosom of the primaeval granite. 



