FALCONS. 



33 



opponent, when, with a sudden scream of despair and honest execration, the 

 latter drops his fish. The eagle, poising himself for a moment, as if to take 

 a more certain aim, descends like a whirlwind, snatches it in his grasp ere it 

 reaches the water, and bears his ill-gotten booty silently away to the woods." 



The nest of the osprey is usually built on the top of a decayed tree. It is 

 composed entirely of sticks, from half an inch to an inch and a half in diameter, 

 and two or three feet in length, piled to the height of four or five feet. These 

 are intermixed with straw, sea-weed, and pieces of turf heaped together in 

 large quantities, and lined with dry sea-grass. These materials are so well 

 put together as often to adhere in large fragments after being blown down by 

 the wind. 



Sub-Family IV. 



THE FALCONS PROPER. FALCONIN/E. 



General Characteristics.— Bill short, the culmen curved from the base to the tip, 



which on the sides is more or less toothed ; cere covering the nostrils, sometimes 



rounded, and sometimes long and linear ; wings lengthened and pointed, with the 



. second and third quills generally the longest ; tail lengthened, and more or loss 



rounded ; feet of various proportions ; toes usually long and slender. 



These birds are, in proportion to their size, the most courageous 

 of the feathered race — a quahty which is in perfect correspondence 



