OF NATURAL HISTORY. 85 



obliged to fly quickly, and continue long on the wing, 

 Tiieir wings, accordingly, are proportionally longer, and 

 they have more ftrength in their mufcles. For the purpofe 

 of feizing and devouring prey. Nature has beftowed on them 

 ftrong hooked bills, and long fliarp claws or pounces. They 

 have alfo large heads, lliort necks, ftrong brawny thighs, 

 and fharp-fighted eyes. 



Like rapacious quadrupeds, birds of prey are capable of 

 enduring hunger for a great length of time. This faculty is, 

 perhaps, acquired partly by habit ; becaufe the obtaining of 

 their food is often very precarious. The females are larger, 

 ftronger, and more beautiful both in lliape and plumage, 

 than the males. For this reafon, the male hawks are called 

 tercels or thirds, becaufe they are fuppofed to be one third 

 lefs than the females. Nature feems to have beftowed this 

 fuperiority of iize and ftrength upon the female, becaufe fhe 

 is obliged to procure food both for herfelf and for her pro- 

 geny. 



The analogy between the ftru£lure of rapacious birds and 

 carnivorous quadrupeds is obvious. Both of them are pro^ 

 vided with weapons which indicate deftru^Slion and rapine. 

 Their manners, are alfo fierce and unfocial. They never, if 

 the vulture be excepted, herd together in flocks, like the in- 

 offenfive granivorous tribes. When not on the wing, they 

 conceal themfelves on the tops of fequeftered rocks, or in the 

 depths of the forefts, v/here they fpend their time in fullen 

 folitude. Thofe of them which feed upon carion, as 

 the raven, have the fenfe of fmelling fo acute, that they 

 fcent dead carcalTes at amazing diftances. 



Beiide thefe great divifions of birds into granivorous and 

 rapacious, whofe manners and difpofitions perfectly coincide 

 with the ftru6lure of their bodies, there are other tribes to 

 whom Nature has given peculiar organs. In all thefe devia^ 

 tions from the common ftrufture, a flngularitv in the mode 



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