472 



A HISTORY OF 



they were also pursued by all; but it is 

 contrived wisely for their safety, that every 

 order of carnivorous birds seek only for such 

 as are of the size most approaching their own. 

 The eagle flies at the bustard or the pheasant; 

 the sparrow-hawk pursues the thrush and the 

 linnet. Nature has provided that each species 

 should make war only on such as are furnish- 

 ed with adequate means of escape. The 

 smallest birds avoid their pursuers by the ex- 

 treme agility, rather than the swiftness of their 

 flight ; for every order would soon be at an 

 end, if the eagle, to its own swiftness of wing, 

 added the versatility of the sparrow. 



Another circumstance which tends to render 

 the tyranny of these animals more supportable, 

 is, that they are less fruitful than other birds; 

 breeding but few at a time. Those of the 

 larger kind seldom produce above four eggs, 

 often but two ; those of the smaller kinds, 

 never above six or seven. The pigeon, it is 

 true, which is their prey, never breeds above 

 two at a time ; but then she breeds every 

 month in the year. The carnivorous kinds 

 only breed annually, and, of consequence, 

 their fecundity is small in comparison. 



As they are fierce by nature, and are diffi- 

 cult to be tamed, so this fierceness extend-. 

 even to their young, which they force from 

 the nest sooner than birds of the gentler kind. 

 Other birds seldom forsake their young till 

 able, completely, to provide for themselves : 

 the rapacious kinds expel them from the nest 

 at a time when they still should protect and 

 support them. This severity to their young 

 proceeds from the necessity of providing for 

 themselves. All animals that, by the confor- 

 mation of their stomach and intestines, are 

 obliged to live upon flesh, and support them- 

 selves by prey, though they may be mild when 

 young, soon become fierce and mischievous, 

 by the very habit of using those arms with 

 which they are supplied by nature. As it is 

 only by the destruction of other animals that 

 they can subsist, they become more furious 

 every day ; and even the parental feelings are 

 overpowered in their general habits of cruelty. 

 If the power of obtaining a supply be difficult, 

 the old ones soon drive their brood from the 

 nest to shift for themselves, and often destroy 

 them in a fit of fury caused by hunger. 



Another effect of this natural and acquired 

 severity is, that almost all birds of prey are 



unsociable. It has long been observed by 

 Aristotle, that all birds witli crooked beaks 

 and talons are solitary : like quadrupeds of the 

 cat kind, they lead a lonely wandering life, 

 and are united only in pairs, by that instinct 

 which overpowers their rapacious habits of 

 enmity with all other animals. As the male 

 and female are often necessary to each other 

 in their pursuits, so they sometimes live to- 

 gether; but except at certain seasons, they 

 most usually prowl alone ; and, like robbers, 

 enjoy in solitude the fruits of their plunder. 



All birds of prey are remarkable for one 

 singularity, for which it is not easy to account. 

 All the males of these birds are about a third 

 less, and weaker than the females, contrary to 

 what obtains among quadrupeds, among which 

 the males are always the largest and the bold- 

 est : from thence the male is called by fal- 

 coners a tarcel ; that is, a tierce or third less 

 than the other. The reason of this difference 

 cannot proceed from the necessiiy of a larger 

 body in the female for the purposes of breed- 

 ing, and that her volume is thus increased by 

 the quantity of her eggs ; for in other birds, 

 that breed much faster, and that lay in much 

 greater proportion, such as the hen, the duck, 

 or the pheasant, the male is by much the 

 largest of the two. 



Whatever be the cause, certain it is, that the 

 females, as Willoughby expresses it, are of 

 greater size, more beautiful and lovely for 

 shape and colours, stronger, more fierce and 

 generous, than the males ; whether it may be 

 that it is necessary for the female to be thus 

 superior, as it is incumbent upon her to pro- 

 vide, not only for herself, but her young ones 

 also. 



These birds, like quadrupeds of the car- 

 nivorous kind, are all lean and meagre. Their 

 flesh is stringy and iil-tasted, soon corrupting, 

 and tinctured with the flavour of tlmt animal 

 food upon which they subsist. Nevertheless, 

 Belonius asserts, that many people admire the 

 flesh of the vulture and falcon, and dress them 

 for eating, when they meet with any accident 

 that unfits them for the chase. He asserts, 

 that the osprey, a species of the eagle, when 

 young, is excellent food ; but he contents 

 himself with advising us to breed these birds 

 up for our pleasure rather in the field, than for 

 the table. 



Of land birds of a rapacious nature, there 



