226 



ZOOLOGY. 



zophaps) solitarius, inhabited the island of Rodriguez, hav- 

 ing been exterminated about the same date (1681). These 

 were clumsy, defenceless birds, incapable of flight, and 

 were destroyed by the domestic animals which accompanied 

 the Portuguese voyagers to the Mascarene Islands. 



The wild pigeon (Uctopistes migratorhis) assembles in 

 large flocks, chiefly in the Central States, but though for- 

 merly excessively abundant it is now nearly exterminated, 

 and is seen only in scattered small numbers. 



Order 8. Raptores (Raptorial birds). — The birds of prey 

 {Raptores), comprising the vultures, buzzards, falcons, 



^T- 





rio. 267.— Head of Condor. From Lutken's Zoology. 



hawks, eagles, and nocturnal owls, have a hooked and cered 

 beak, i.e., with a waxy, dense membrane situated at the 

 base of the upper mandible. The claws are large and sharp. 

 The raptorial birds live either on birds and mammals, or 

 fish, reptiles, batrachians, and insects. Of the vultures, 

 the most notable for size is the condor of the Andes (Sar- 

 corhampus gryphus, Fig. 267), which has great powers of 

 flight, its wings expanding nearly three metres (nine feet). 

 The carrion crow and turkey buzzard {Cathartes atratus 

 and C. aura) are useful as scavengers, especially the former, 

 which is partly domesticated in southern cities and towns; 

 they nest on the ground or in stumps, and are more or less 



