713 



FALCONIDJE. 



FALCOXID^E. 



714 



V. coronatu-s of Jacquin are necessarily included among the synonyms 

 of the Harpy Eagle, the Falco harpy ia and the F. Jacquini of Gmelin, 

 by whom the trivial name assigned by Jacquin to his bird was 

 changed on account of it3 introduction into a genus in which that 

 appellation was pre-occupied. In the year 1778, Mr. Dillon observed 

 iu the menagerie of Buen Retiro at Madrid, a species of engle which 

 he imagined to be 'an undescript kind not taken notice of by 

 Linnicus.' This bird, which he figures in his 'Travels through Spain' 

 under the name of the Crested Falcon, is evidently of the same 

 species with the Harpy, although the representation is rudely exe- 

 cuted, and in some respects, as for example the length of the beak, 

 grossly caricatured. We might almost be tempted to suspect that the 

 specimen seen by him was identical with that described by Linnaeus 

 from the same menagerie twenty years before, were it not that the 

 latter bird is expressly called Mexican, while that of Mr. Dillon is 

 stated to have come from the Caracas. For this reason Dr. Latham 

 introduced it into his 'Synopsis' under the name of the Caraca 

 Falcon. 



"Gmelin, quoting from Latham, soon after latinised its former 

 name into Palco crittalus, and this may therefore be added to the 

 synonyms of our bird, of which Mr. Dillon's was the first published 

 figure. The next original describer of the Harpy Eagle was Mauduyt, 

 who also regarded his specimens as nondescript, and gave them the 

 name of Grand Aigle de la Guiane, from the country whence they 

 were obtained. To these birds, which formed part of the collection 

 of the Paris Museum, Daudin, in his 'Ornithology,' published in 1800, 

 applied the scientific appellation of Falco det>~uctor ; and the names 

 given by these two writers have been generally adopted on the conti- 

 nent of Europe as the only ones certainly applicable to the species. 

 M. Sonnini seema doubtful whether or not to regard the two sped- 

 nifiis described by him as distinct species, and names the one Aigle 

 Destructeur, and the other Grand Aigle de la Guiane ; but there seems 

 no sufficient reason for their separation. Dr. Shaw's Falco imperialit 

 is founded on this indication of Sounini. In all probability the 

 Created Eagle of Stedmau's ' Expedition to Surinam/ spoken of ns a 

 very strong and fierce bird, belongs to the same species. Figures of the 

 Harpy are likewise given by M. Cuvier in hia ' Kegne Animal ; ' by 

 M. Vieillot, in the second edition of the ' Nouveau Dictionnaire des 

 Sciences ; ' and by M. Temminck, in his ' Planches Coloridea.' Those 

 of the two last-named works are strikingly characteristic. That of 

 the ' Dictionnaire ' .exhibit* the crest-feathers equally and stiffly 

 elevated round the back part of the head, a state iu which we have 

 never seen them in our bird, and which on account of their laxity, 

 and the lower position of the middle ones, we doubt their power to 

 assume. It is right however to remark that the crest is stated by 

 Linmeua and other authors to possess this power of elevation round 

 the head in form of a crown, an ornament alluded to in the Spanish 

 name of the bird, Aquila Coronada, and in the trivial appellation, 

 foronalui, affixed to the species by Jacquin. We believe that we have 

 now restored to this bird all the original synonyms which unques- 

 tionably belong to it. The original descriptions of Hernandez, 

 Linnanis, Jacquin, Mauduyt, Daudin, and Sonnini, and the figures of 

 Dillon, Shaw, Cuvier, Vieillot, and Temminck, are such as leave no 

 doubt upon our minds of the accuracy of the references to those 

 authors. Wo have purposely abstained from mentioning others which 

 have been occasionally quoted, but which either do not appear to us 

 to be satisfactorily determined, or are evidently founded on mistake. 

 Of the former class the Owyra-Ouassou of Lery, or Royal Bird of 

 Prey of Brazil, may serve aa an example ; of the latter, the Calquiu 

 and Tharu of Molina." 



Adult Bird. Head with thick downy plumage, of a light slaty- 

 gray colour. Crest arising from the back part, of numerous broad 

 feathers increasing in length towards the middle line of the head, 

 and thus assuming a rounded form, of a dull black, with the exception 

 of a slight margin of gray on the tips of the longer feathers, and a 

 more extensive tinge of the same colour on those of the sides. This 

 crest is slightly raised above the level of the feathers of the back of 

 the neck when the bird is quiet, but is capable of being elevated at 

 right angles with them upon any sudden excitement. In this state, 

 to an observer placed in front of the bird, the middle feathers of 

 the crest arc rarely, visible, on account of their being inserted much 

 lower down than the lateral ones ; while the latter, converging on 

 cither side, form, as it were, two lax ear-like processes. Below the 

 rest, the whole of the back and wings, together with a broad collar 

 round the fore part of the neck, black, each of the feathers of the 

 linck terminating in a narrow transverse somewhat lighter streak. 

 1'udtT surface, from the breast backwards, pure white ; plumage of 

 the lega white with blackish transverse bars. Tail with four 

 transverse black bands, of about equal breadth with the four 

 alternating whitish or ash-coloured spaci's; the tip light ash. 

 (Bennett). 



Immature Bird. Upper parts mottled with brown, gray, and 

 whitish ; cheeks, occiput, throat, and under parts, light gray, with a 

 few black feathers in front of the neck, and some large irregular 

 black spots on each side of the lower surface of the tail-feathers on a 

 light anli-coloured ground, (t'alco i'./ i-iulin, Shaw; Vieillot, young 

 femal' and wing grayish fawn-colour, irregularly marbled 



and |>fittci| wi'h black; collar ashy-fawn, more or less spotted with 



black ; bars crossing the legs fewer and more irregular ; all the lower 

 parts whitish-fawn sprinkled with darker spots ; upper surface of 

 tail ash-coloured, with small blackish spots ; patches of black mark 

 the places of the future bands, which gradually increase at each 

 change ; under surface whitish, dotted with fawn. (Temminck.) 



Bird farther advanced. Collar, crest, back, and wing-coverts, 

 almost uniformly gray ; quill-feathers of the wings black ; under 

 surface of body dirty white ; each of the tail-feathers marked beneath 

 by four large black patches crossing its shaft and occupying about 

 half its width. (Bennett.) 



Upper mandible very thick at the base, straight for some distance, 

 and suddenly curving downwards with a strong arch towards the 

 sharp point ; lower mandible straight, short, and blunt ; nostrils 

 transverse and oval ; wings when closed not reaching beyond the 

 middle of the tail, which is rounded at the extremity ; legs feathered 

 on the upper part of their anterior surface only, the rest naked and 

 reticulated ; talons extremely strong, internal and posterior ones 

 very long. Mr. Bennett observes that in some of these characters, 

 as for instance the nakedness of the legs/the Harpy approaches the 

 Sea-Eagles ; but it differs from them in many essential points, and in 

 none more remarkably than in the shortness of its wings, aud the 

 robustness of its legs and talons ; the former character rendering it, 

 like the short-winged hawks, more adapted for preying near the 

 surface of the ground on gallinaceous birds and quadrupeds, and 

 the latter enabling it to carry off a prey of much greater magnitude. 



Harpy Eagle (Ifarpyia destructor). 



The Harpy is stated to be a solitary bird, frequenting the thickest 

 forests, where it feeds upon the sloths ; it also preys on fawns and 

 other young quadrupeds. Sounini observed it sitting motionless and 

 uttering no cry, on a high tree on the banks of the Orapu. Hernandez 

 does not seem inclined to detract from the powers of the bird, for 

 he says that it will attack the most fierce beasts, and even man 

 himself; aud he further states that it may be trained like a hawk to 

 pursue game. Linnaeus gives the bird credit for strength sufficient 

 to split a man's skull with a single blow (unico ictu). These accounts 

 of its prowess must be taken with some grains of allowance, but that 

 the bird is very powerful is without doubt. Jacquin's specimen was 

 found dead in the ship that waa conveying it to Europe, and its death 

 was with some probability attributed to the sailors, whose monkeys 

 the engle had destroyed. When these animals gambolled too near 

 its cage they were sci/.ed by its talons and devoured with almost all 

 their bones, but not their skin, which the bird invariably stripped 

 off. One Harpy which was obtained by Mr. Hesketh, consul at 

 Maranham, near the mouth of the river Arnazonas, aud brought to 

 England by Colonel Snbine, is said to have destroyed and eaten a 

 King of the Vultures (Sarcoramphus Papa) while ou ita passage to 

 England. After its arrival a cat was put into its cage, and the eagle, 

 with one blow of ita immense foot, broke its back. 



