The Birds of Prcv. 



1 1 1 



in close proximity, and in North America as many as three hundred pairs have been 



found breedin>; together. The Osprey is a bird of very fine flight, and it circles 



over the water in graceful curves, occasionally hovering like a Kestrel, and dropping 



like a stone when it perceives a fish. The nest is a huge structure of sticks, and 



is built on a tree or on a ruined building in an inland lake. The eggs are two or three 



in number and are beautifully marked with red and purple blotches on a white ground : 



they measure about two-and-a-half inches in length. 



Xone of the members of this Sub-Order, which includes the 



remainder of the Birds of Prey, viz., the \'ultures, the Hawks, 

 Sub-order . 



FALCONES Harriers, Buzzards, Lagles, Kites, and Falcons, have a reversible 



outer toe, but, like the Ospreys, all these birds have the eyes 



placed laterally in the head and not directed forwards : in every case likewise a 



more or less distinct 'cere,' the bare or wax-like base to the bill, is present. The 



Falcones may be divided into two great F"amilies, the Vultures {Vtdturid,, j and 



the Falcons [Falconida). The latter are divided into several Sub-families, the 



Accipitriiuc (Long-legged Hawks I, the Aqiiiliiia i Buzzards, Eagles, and Kites) 



and the Fidconiitu (Falcons). 



The Egvptux Scavkngur Vui-tuke. 



The Griefon Viliciji:. 



.Altliough the Griffon is believed to have been seen on more 



THE GRIFFOX . ■ t- , j ^ , ■ • • r • 



,,,,, „,,„,. than one occasion in bngland, the onlv authentic instance oi its 



VULTURE. " 



(Gyps fulviis) capture within the British area is that of a young bird caught 



by a boy on the rocks near Cork Harbour in the spring of 1843. 



It is a bird of the Mediterranean region and especially of Northern Africa. It makes 



