152 



Div. 1. VERTEBRATE ANIMALS.— AYES. 



Class 2. 



l^fig. 72, a) IS semicircular and very wide, the better to resist the violent pressure of the humerus 

 incidental to a rapid flight. [The young undergo no change of feather until their second 



autumn ; and they renew their plumage slowly, and in no 

 instance more than once in the year ; its seasonal change 

 being confined to a slight wearing off, rather than a natural 

 shedding, of the margins of the feathers : in several species, 

 however, the colour indicative of maturity is partially ac- 

 quired, previously to moulting, by a change of hue in the first 

 or nestling plumage. The eggs of Accipitrine Birds are 

 nearly spherical ; and those of the present division are gene- 

 rally more or less spotted or blotched with rusty-brown. 

 The young are at first densely clad in short soft down.] 



Linnaeus made only two genera, which are two natural 

 divisions, — the Vultures and the Falcons. 



The Vultures {Vultur, Lin.) — 

 Have the eyes even with the head ; the tarsi reticulated, or, in 

 other words, covered with small scales ; the beak lengthened, 

 curved only at the end ; and a greater or less portion of the head, 

 and generally of the neck, [in the adult,] devoid of feathers. The 

 force of their talons does not correspond with their stature, and 

 they make more use of their beak than of their claws. Their 

 wings are so long, tliat in walking they hold them half-extended. 

 They are of a cowardly disposition, and feed on carrion oftener 

 than on living prey : when they have gorged themselves, their 

 craw forms a large protuberance above the fourchette, a fetid 

 humour issues from their nostrils, and they are almost reduced 



yiirJl.—AlinientarTCanal of the Common Brtizard : p_,, ,.^« - ,, , 



exi.ibitinKtiie first eipaii.ion, or craw ; and (be- to a State of apathy. [They Qitter, morcovcr, rrom all the suc- 



lou' the divaiicfttum ol l\\Q tracheit) the proven- . i t^ i • i i i 



tricuius, ktomacii, and iniesiines. The second ceeding grouDS, till wc amve at tlic roultrv, — With the sole ex. 



filfurc represents the termination of the small oor \i-i-ii-i 



iniesiines, with the rectum swelling nck.w i.) cention ofthe Secretary gcuus (tri/^o^'erawtw), which indeed might 



form the cloaca, and two minute ca?ca placed at I Jo 



the junction of the (^eat and small intestines.* ^^ ranged With them, — in possessing luorc than twelve cervical ver- 

 tebra; t : their fourchette, though extremely stout and wide, 

 is flattened as in the Owls : the sternal crest low, and reduced 

 anteriorly; and the posterior edge of the sternum (fig. 73), in 

 some of those of America, is doubly emarginated for some 

 time : they even further accord with the Owls in having a rib 

 less than tlie Falconine genera. 



The Vultures, properly so called, (VuU-ur, Cuv.) — ■ 



Have a large and strong beak, the nostrils opening cross-wise at 

 its hasc, the head and neck without leathers or caruncles, and a 

 collar of long feathers, or of down, at the base of the neck. 

 They have hitherto been found only on the old continent [hut 

 none of the tribe are met with in Austrtalia. where the absence 

 of larger indigenous quadrupeds than the Kangaroos, and of 

 predatory animals that should leave the surplus of their 

 meals to putrefy, indicate that they could not be sup- 

 ported.] + 



v>e.n 



—Sternal apparatus of tlie Common Hnrner. 

 I tic ketl {bj in rKttier inure develupcd lu tlie 

 Falcons ; If sit so in the Eat^les. 



^S: 



• Copied from M'Gillivray's Rapanout Birds oj flritittn. -jJd. 



t In llic long series of (•roups adverted to, tSe thirteenth vcrttbra 

 gtriicriilly, but not alu'Etytt, bean a pair of minute ribs, vhich diminish 

 till they disappedT in some species; if, therefore, the thirteenth 

 vertebra is to be considered aii cervical iu sucii cases, as nut beariu^ 



B rib, the difference is essentially trifling-, and docs not intrinsicati/ 

 atTc-ct the above generalization — Ko. 



I The Alectura, Gray, which has been Jtrnorantly classifieU with ibe 

 Vultures, is in c^cry resj'ect a true Pouhrv bird. 



