36 FALCONING. 



White Vulture, Brown Vulture. Pharaoh's Chicken. 



Vultur Percnopterus, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. 249. Adult. 

 Vultur fuscus, i. 248, Young. Cathartes Percnopterus, 

 Temm. Man. d'Ornith. i. 8 ; iii. 6. Neophron Percnopterus, 

 White Neophron, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, iii. 166. 



FAMILY II. FALCONING. FALCONINE 

 BIRDS, OH HAWKS. 



Body robust, moderate, or slender ; neck short ; head 

 rather large, roundish, little convex above. Bill short, 

 stout, compressed toward the end ; upper mandible ce- 

 rate, with the edges sharp, and a sinus or notch near 

 the tip, which is elongated, decurved, somewhat trigonal, 

 acute ; lower mandible with the angle wide, the dorsal 

 line convex, the edges sharp and decurved or emarginate 

 close to the rounded tip. Tongue fleshy, deeply emar- 

 ginate and papillate at the base, with the sides nearly 

 parallel, the tip rounded and horny beneath ; oesophagus 

 very wide, dilated into a large crop; proventriculus wide ; 

 stomach large or of moderate size, roundish, with the mus- 

 cular coat thin, the epithelium soft, and more or less ru- 

 gous ; intestine generally rather short and of moderate 

 width, sometimes very long and narrow, being in either 

 case of moderate capacity ; cceca extremely small, some- 

 times wanting ; cloaca large and globular. Trachea con- 

 siderably flattened, of slender rings ; inferior larynx with 

 a single pair of muscles, and the last entire ring par- 

 titioned. Eyes large, lateral, somewhat inclined for- 

 wards ; both eyelids equally mobile. Nostrils small or 

 of moderate size, varying in figure. Apertures of ears 

 rather large, simple. Legs very muscular ; tarsus short 

 or of moderate length ; toes four, the first large and 

 stout, the third long, the second larger than the fourth, 

 the anterior somewhat webbed at the base, all scutellate 

 toward the end, padded and papillate beneath ; claws 



