THE EAGLE. 59 



difficult, the old ones soon drive their brood from the nest ot 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 Aris- 

 totle, that all birds with 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 

 together ; but except at certain seasons, they most usually prowl alone ; 

 mid, 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 acc( Mnt. All the males of these birds are about a third 

 icss, and weaker than the females, contrary to what obtains among 

 quadrupeds, among which the males are always the largest and the 

 boldest : from thence the male is called by falconers a tared ; that is, 

 a tierce or third less than the other. The reason of this difference 

 cannot proceed from the necessity of a larger body in the female for 

 the purposes of breeding, 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 Willough- 

 bv expresses it, are of greater size, more beautiful and lovely for shape 

 and colours, stronger, more fierce and generous than the males ; whe- 

 ther it may be that it is necessary for the female to be thus superior, 

 as it is incumbent upon her to provide, not only for herself but her 

 young ones also. 



These birds, like quadrupeds of the carnivorous kind, are all lean 

 and meagre. Their flesh is stringy and ill-tasted, soon corrupting, 

 and tinctured with the flavour of that 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 are five kinds. The eagle 

 kind, the hawk kind, the vulture kind, the horned and the screech- 

 owl kind. The distinctive marks of this class are taken from their 

 claws and beak ; their toes are separated ; their legs are feathered to 

 the heel ; their toes are four in number, three before, one behind : 

 their beak is short, thick and crooked. 



The eagle kind is distinguished from the rest by his beak, which is 

 straight till towards the end, when it begins to hook downwards. 



The vulture kind is distinguished by the head and neck, which are 

 without feathers. 



The hawk kind by the beak, being hooked from the very root. 



The horned owl by the feathers at the base of the bill standing for 

 wards ; and by some feathers on the head that stand ou, resembling 



