38 



HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



than the eagle, all the qualities that render it 

 formidable, not only to the feathered kind, 

 but to beasts, and even to man himself. Acos- 

 ta, Garcilasso, and Desmarchais, assert, that 

 it is eighteen feet across, the wings extended. 

 T^e beak is so strong as to pierce the body of 

 a cow ; and two of them are able to devour it. 

 They do not even abstain* from man himself: 

 but fortunately there are but few of the spe- 

 cies ; for if they had been plenty, every order 

 of animals must have carried on an unsu*ccess- 

 ful war against them. The Indians assert, 

 (hat they will carry off a deer, or a young 

 calf, in their talons, as eagles would a hare or 

 a rabbit; that their sight is piercing, and their 

 air terrible ; that they seldom frequent the 

 forests, as they require a large space for the dis- 

 play of their wings ; but that they are found on 

 the sea-shore, and the banks of rivers, whither 

 they descend from the heights of the mountains. 



back as it meets the scapulars. The secondaries of the 

 last middle tint. Primaries, brown, darkest in their 

 inner veins, very broad and firm ; the outer one two and 

 a half inches shorter than the second ; the longest twenty- 

 four inches to its roots, and about half an inch in diame- 

 ter at the barrel. The under wing coverts, iron gray, 

 very broad, and forming the same cavity that is apparent 

 in all this genus with the scapulars, which also are very 

 broad. Legs and feet strong and muscular: the former 

 one and a half inches in diameter; the latter measuring, 

 from the base of the hind claw to that of the middle toe, 

 six and a half inches. Claws strong, much hooked ; 

 the hind one two inches long, the inner rather less, all 

 blue, black, and glossy. Toes warty, with rasp-like ad- 

 vancing hard particles, covered with large scales appear- 

 ing again on the front of the leg, all of dirty strong 

 yellow. Leg feathers brown cinnamon, pointed back- 

 wards. 



" From the above account, it will be seen that the 

 bird here described and faithfully figured from a fresh- 

 killed specimen, is a very scarce species, even in those 

 parts where it is a native ; and, that it is rarely met 

 with, the few opportunities I have had of seeing it, the 

 dates of which I have generally given, are a sufficient 

 proof." 



The Martial eagle, sometimes called the griffard, is 

 a large species discovered in Africa by Le Vaillant. It 

 inhabits the country of the great Namaquois, between 

 the twenty-eighth degree of south latitude and the tropic, 

 and probably exists in the other parts of Africa. When 

 perched, it emits sharp and piercing cries, mixed with 

 hoarse and lugubrious tones, which are heard at a great 

 distance. It flies, with the legs pendant, and, like the 

 common eagle, rises so high that it is lost sight of, 

 tliough its cry is still audible. Highly courageous, it 

 never suffers any great bird of rapine to approach with- 

 in its domain. It hunts gazelles and hares. 



The grillards, like the other eagles, are usually ob- 

 served in couples, but during the hatching time the 

 male alone provides for the subsistence of the family. 

 The nest is formed between precipitous rocks, or on the 

 summits of lofty trees. Its basis is constituted like that 

 of the other eagles' nests, but it is covered with a large 

 quantity of small wood, moss, and roots, which give it 

 a thickness of about two feet. This bed is again covered 

 with small bits of dry wood, on which the female lays 

 two eggs almost round, entirely white, and more than 

 three inches in diameter. 



The Balbuzzard is pretty generally spread through 



By later accounts we learn, that they come 

 down to the sea-shore only at certain seasons, 

 when their prey happens to fail them upon 

 land ; that they then feed upon dead fish, and 

 such other nutritious substances as the sea 

 throws upon the shore. We are assured, 

 however, that their countenance is not so ter- 

 ri&e as the old writers have represented it ; 

 but that they appear of a milder nature than 

 either the eagle or the vulture. 



Condamine has frequently seen them in 

 several parts of the mountains of Quito, arid 

 observed them hovering over a flock of sheep ; 

 and he thinks they would, at a certain time, 

 have attempted to carry one off, had they not 

 been scared away by the shepherds. Labat 

 acquaints us, that those who have seen this 

 animal, declare that the body is as large as 

 that of a sheep ; and that the flesh is tough, 

 and as disagreeable as carrion. The Span- 



France, Germany, and most of the countries of Europe 

 from north to south. It is also found in Barbary, Egypt, 

 Louisiana, and even in the island of Pins in the South 

 Sea. The balbuzzards of the reeds in Carolina and 

 Cayenne, appear to be only varieties of the same spe- 

 cies, which equally inhabits Pennsylvania, and is some- 

 times called piravera. The places which the balbuzzard 

 prefers to frequent, are not the shores of the sea, but 

 low lands bordering on ponds and rivers, from which 

 habit it might be termed the fresh-water eagle. Perched 

 on a lofty tree, or hovering at a considerable elevation in 

 the air, it watches the fish from afar, descends upon it 

 with the rapidity of lightning, seizes it at the moment 

 it appears on the surface of the water, or even plunges 

 in completely after it, and carries it oft' in its talons. 

 But this prey, the weight of which renders the flight of 

 the bird slow and laborious, does not always remain the 

 portion of the balbuzzard. On the banks of the Ohio, 

 where it goes to fish, when the perca ocellata quits the 

 ocean to enter the river, dwells also tlie formidable py- 

 gargus. When he sees the balbuzzard arrived to the 

 height of his eyrie, he quits his own, pursues him close- 

 ly, until the fisher, convinced of his inferiority, aban- 

 dons the prey ; then this fierce antagonist with folded 

 wings shoots down like an arrow, and with the most in- 

 conceivable address, seizes the fish again before it reaches 

 the river. The right of the strongest is the .sovereign 

 arbiter of small and great events, and governs through- 

 out the universe with resistless sway, in the air, on the 

 earth, and under the waters. 



The Great Harpy (see Plate XVI. fig. 7.) is a bird 

 which has been described under various synonyms, in 

 consequence of the variations which result from age and 

 sex, in its magnitude and plumage. It is found in Bra- 

 zil, New Granada, and Guyana, where it particularly 

 inhabits the forests of the interior. It is also found in 

 other countries of America, and is peculiar to that con- 

 tinent. It is said to be the most robust and powerful of 

 the feathered race. If the stories told of it be true, the 

 benefits of nature seem, in this way, to be pretty equally 

 distributed to both worlds. While the old can boast of 

 the most terrible of quadrupeds, the fiercest and strong- 

 est of birds has fallen to the inheritance of the new. 

 Travellers have assured Mauduyt, that the harpy makes 

 its usual prey on the ai and the unau, and that it often 

 carries off fawns and other young quadrupeds. It also 

 attacks the arras, and the larger parrots. 



The Wedge-tailed eagle (see Plate XVI. fig. 2.) may 

 be regarded as the type of a distinct form in the impor- 



