96 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



Malta (not less than 1,350 miles) in twenty-four hours, 

 which, had it been on the wing the whole time, would 

 have been about fifty-six miles per hour ; but as falcons 

 do not fly by night, it was probably not more than sixteen 

 or eighteen hours on the wing, and must therefore have 

 llown at the rate of between seventy and eighty miles 

 an hour. 



To Falcons also belong Eagles and Hawks. 



The Eagles are remarkable for the po\yer and extent 

 of their vision, for their great strength, courage, and noble 

 bearing. They generally attack larger ahimals only 

 assailing smaller birds when pressed by hunger, and even 

 then they do not willingly touch any food unless they 

 have killed the animal for themselves. 



Eagles build their nests, which are called eyries, on the 

 tops of mountains or rocks. They are very strong, so as 

 to resist the force of the wind to which they are exposed 

 in such situations. They use branches of trees and large 

 pieces of wood, which their strong talons and their powerful 

 body enable them to transport to the spot they select. 



When rearing their young, eagles collect all the food 

 they can get and bring it home to the eaglets. A man in 

 Antrim having taken a pair of eaglets from an eyrie, 

 placed them in such a manner that their parents could 

 visit them, and during an entire summer they were daily 

 supplied with rabbits, hares, &c., in such quantities that 

 the owner obtained sufficient animal food for himself and 

 his family. 



The Hawks arc in character very like Falcons, and 

 were also used in sports in bygone times. But some of the 

 family the Kites, or " Gleads " (this name seems to have 

 been derived from " glide," because the bird flics with a 

 gliding motion) at one time fulfilled a much more useful 

 purpose, for, even as late as the reign of Henry VIII., 

 they were the chief scavengers of London and other towns, 



