FALCONS. 



17 



in fat or butter ; and by decreasing the fat gra- 

 dually, it at last ate bread alone, and seemed to 



thrive as well as when fed with meat 



Spallanzani attempted in vain to make an Eagle 

 eat bread by itself; but by enclosing the bread in 

 meat, so as to deceive the Eagle, the bread was 

 swallowed and digested in the stomach."* 



The characters of this Family may be thus 

 expressed : The head is wholly clothed with fea- 

 thers, except the 

 cere at the base 

 of the beak. The 

 beak is strong, 

 hooked, and, in 

 the more typical 

 genera, furnished 

 with a sharp pro- 

 jection or tooth on 

 each side. The 

 nostrils are more 

 or less rounded, 

 and pierced in the 

 sides of the cere. 

 The eyebrow, in 

 most instances, projects and overhangs the eye; 

 imparting an expression of sternness to the coun- 

 tenance. The outer toe is to some extent con- 

 nected with the middle toe, and all are armed 

 with strong, very sharp, and much curved talons, 

 the points of which are preserved from injury by 

 a mechanism for elevating them from the surface 

 on which the bird rests ; a process analogous to 

 the sheathing of the claws in the Felida. 



In general the female is much larger than the 



* Animal (Economy. 



BEAK OF FALCON. 



