[Cases 
45, 46, 
and 
Table- 
case. | 
[Case 45.) 
[Table- 
case. | 
[Case 45.] 
[Case 46. } 
[Case 46. } 
al 
74 BIRD GALLERY.’ 
toes armed with strong curved claws. By means of these powerful 
weapons they are able to seize and kill their prey and to tear up the 
flesh. They are monogamous, and the female is generally larger than 
the male. ‘The eggs are few in number, and the young when hatched 
are in a naked and helpless condition. 
Three families are recognised, the first including the Vultures 
( Vulturide), the second the Eagles and Hawks (Fulconide), and the 
third the Ospreys (Pandionide). 
Family I. Vutruripe. Vutrures. 
These Birds of Prey inhabit the tropical and subtropical portions of 
the Old World, where they represent the Turkey-Vultures (Cathartide) 
of America. As has already been mentioned above, they differ from the 
latter birds in many important particulars, but in their habits they are 
very similar, They feed chiefly on the careases of dead animals which 
their keen sight enables them to discover, and though many naturalists 
have maintained that it is chiefly by the sense of smell that they find 
their prey, there can be no doubt that this is a mistake, as has been 
proved by experiments. Their claws being short and rather blunt, 
Vultures rarely attack and kill living animals ; they are cowardly 
sluggish birds, endowed with extraordinary powers of flight. 
The Cinereous or Black Vulture (V7. monachus) (829), ranging from 
Southern Europe to China, is the only representative of the genus 
Vultur. It is rather solitary in its habits, breeding singly in trees and 
not in colonies like the Griffon-Vultures (Gyps fulvus) (880), all stages 
of which, from the nestling to the adult, will be found exhibited in the 
adjoining central Case. This southern European species is one of the 
most familiar, and is specially numerous in Spain, where it breeds 
in caves in the perpendicular crags of the Sierras. Another represen 
tative of the genus is the Himalayan Griffon-Vulture (G. himalayensis) 
(831), and a closely allied form the White-headed Vulture (Lophogyps 
occipitalis) (882) will be found on the floor of the next Case together 
with the Sociable or Eared Vulture (Otogyps auricularis) (888) and the 
Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) (834), which has on more 
than one occasion wandered to Great Britain. 
Family II. Farconrpm. Eacirs anp Hawks. 
(Plates XV., XVI., XXV.) 
Almost all the remaining Birds of Prey are included in this family, 
and are divided into six subfamilies, the Caracaras (Polyborine), the 
Long-legged Hawks (Accipitrine), the Buzzards (Buteonine), the 
Bearded Vultures (Gypaétine), the Eagles (Aquiline), and the Falcons 
