337 
On the Ornithalagy of Wilts. 
No. 6.—FALCONIDA. § (Falcons.) 
*¢So when a Falcon skims the airy way, 
Stoops from the clouds, and pounces on his prey; 
Dash’d on the earth the feather’d victim lies, 
Expands its feeble wings, and flutt’ring dies.” 
P. WuHitenesaD. The Gymnasiad, book 3. 
My previous papers on the Ornithology of Wilts having treated 
of the general structure and the classification of birds, and the 
particular characteristics of the various orders and tribes, with 
especial reference to the beaks and feet, which generally point out 
with sufficient clearness their habits and consequent position, I come 
now without further preface to describe in order the families into 
which those orders and tribes are subdivided, and to give some short 
account of each individual species, which, as a resident, a periodical 
or an occasional visitant in our county, has come under my 
observation.’ 
I have already shewn that the first order, “ Birds of Prey,” con- 
sists of three families, the Vultures, Falcons, and Owls: of the first of 
these no member has ever occurred in this county, and indeed it is 
only from the very rare occurrence of a straggler or two on our 
shores, probably driven out of their course by strong and adverse 
winds, that the Vultures have of late obtained a place amongst 
British birds: their habits bespeak them as denizens of tropical 
climates, for their food consists of carrion and putrid substances, 
and very useful as scavengers do they prove in their native coun- 
tries, and very wisely are they protected as such by the inhabitants; 
for as the storks in Holland, and the dogs in Constantinople and 
1A reference to the table of classification in vol. I., facing page 114, will 
show the order in which these families come. 
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