RAPACIOUS BIRDS. 67 



by the conformation of their stomach and intes- 

 tines, are obliged to live upon flesh, and support 

 themselves 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 sub- 

 sist, they become more furious everyday; 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 unso- 

 ciable. It has long been observed by Aristotle, 

 that all birds with crooked beaks and talons are 

 solitary : Hke 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, and, like robbers, 

 enjoy in solitude the fruits of their plunder. 



All birds of prey are remarkable for one singu- 

 larity, 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 boldest : 



