58 



CLASS AVES. 



ORDER AC C I P E T R E S. 



CLASS II. AVES. 



Birds are separated from all other Vertebrate Animals by the beautiful organization which most of them possess for lofty and rapid 

 flight. They are produced from eggs ; hence they are called oviparous : they have warm blood, breathe through lungs, which are 

 attached to their ribs ; have a double respiration, by their aorta, as well as by their pulmonary artery. Their heart has four 

 cavities, two auricles, and two ventricles : they are bipeds, and their body is covered with feathers. 



ORDER I. ACCIPETRES. PREYERS. 



THIS order occupies among Birds a position not very dissimilar to that 

 which the Carnivora sustains among the Quadrupeds. They have beaks 

 and talons, hooked and strong, by which they seize and tear their prey : 

 their muscular strength is very great, and the habits of many of them dis- 

 gusting. Their appellation comes from the Latin accipita, " a hawk," " a 

 plunderer." 



Family DIURNAL ; Diurna. 



These are birds of powerful flight; their plumage is close, and their 

 quills strong : their eyes are directed sideways ; and they seek their prey 

 by day hence they are called Diurnal. 



ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES. 



PLATE 2. 



f Peregrinus - - - Peregrine Falcon. 



Kali <i ------- t Pennatus ... Booted Buzzard. 



I Ossifragus - - - Sea Eagle. 



Gypogeranus ----- Capensis - ... Cape Snake-eater. 



CHARACTERS OF THE GENERA. 



1. VULTUR; 2. SARCORAMPHUS ; 3. PERCNOPTERUS. Beak large and 

 strong, much deeper than its width, and its base covered with a cere ; 

 upper strongly curved at its tip ; lower slightly inclined inwards at its 

 tip ; nostrils naked ; head and neck more or less naked, sometimes covered 

 with short down, sometimes bare with a few scattered hairs ; sometimes 

 the upper and lateral parts of the head and neck ornamented with wattles 

 or folds of skin ; base of the neck generally surrounded with a ruff or 

 collar of lengthy feathers ; wings long ; feet strong ; middle toe very long, 

 and connected with the outer at its base ; claws slightly curved, and com- 

 paratively short. 



The same characters generally apply to the three genera. 



4. GYPAETOS (Gr. ytty, a Vulture, and atroc, an Eagle). Beak of 

 moderate size, thickish, strong, straight, arched, and hooked at the tip, and 

 the base cerigerous ; nostrils oval, and covered with stiff hairs or narrow 

 feathers inclining forward, and a tuft of hair forming a beard beneath the 

 lower mandible ; wings very long, the first quill shorter than the second, 

 and the third the longest ; tarsi short and feathered to the toes, of which 

 there are four, the three anterior connected by a short membrane, and the 

 middle one very long ; the talons slightly curved, strong, and very short. 



5. FALCO (Lat. /air, a hook, or bUT). Beak hooked ; nostrils lateral ; 

 head thickly feathered ; upper margin of the orbit projecting, so as to make 

 the eyes appear sunken ; feet strong ; middle toe the longest ; upper part 

 of the toes scutulate, with strong, moveable, retractile, curved and very short 

 claws. 



6. GYPOGERANUS (Gr. yity, a Vulture, and yt'pavoc, a Crane). Head 

 thickly feathered ; beak shorter than the head, thick and strong, curved 

 almost from the base, and hooked at the point, which is compressed ; 

 ocular circlet naked ; nostrils in the cere oblong, expanded, and open ; bend 

 of the wings protected with three bony tubercles : wings long ; legs very 



long, the tibiae feathered, the tarsi more than twice the length of the front 

 toes, which are united at their roots by membrane, the skin beneath warty ; 

 claws slightly curved, strong, and sharp. 



DIURNA. DESCRIPTION OF THE SPECIES. 



VULTURE. The whole sub-family of Vultures have acquired an ill name, 

 though, as is not unfrequently the case, without cause ; for although their 

 habits are not of the most attractive kind, yet they are inoffensive, and of 

 great usefulness in warm climates, especially by the quickness with which 

 they discover, and the speed with which they remove, dead animal matter, 

 which, if left, would fester in the sun's heat, and render pestilent the sur- 

 rounding atmosphere. Though the Vultures have neither the disposition 

 nor courage of the Falcons, to attack living prey, and are destitute of the 

 strongly-curved and pointed beak and claws necessary for such purpose, 

 yet do their external characters sufficiently indicate their fitness for the 

 purposes to which they are destined. Their head and neck, small in com- 

 parison with their general size, and the neck often long and slender, are 

 bare or covered only with down, which is less soilable by the filthy carrion 

 in which, whilst feeding, they are immersed, than feathers would be. Their 

 beak, curved only at the tip, and unarmed with any tooth or festoon, is still 

 sufficiently sharp to tear their food to pieces, as are also their slightly- 

 curved claws, connected however with powerful legs covered only with 

 reticular scales, sufficient to hold tightly their inanimate prey. Their 

 flight, although gentle, is remarkable for its great height, as, notwithstanding 

 their large size, they soon rise, in whirls, so high in the air as to become 

 completely invisible ; whilst, on the contrary, where but now not a Vulture 

 can be seen, in a few minutes, on a fitting opportunity, as, for instance, the 

 death of an animal, the sky becomes darkened with them. To account for 

 the remarkable celerity with which they discover their prey, it has generally 

 been considered that the great development of their olfactory organs indi- 

 cates this faculty to depend on the delicacy of their scent. But of late 

 years the celebrated naturalist Audubon has maintained that they are 

 directed to their prey, whilst soaring watchfully aloft, by the extreme 

 sharpness of their vision. 



Species the Sociable Vulture (V. Auricularis) measures upwards of ten 

 feet in the expanse of the wings : it is a rare species. It is very common 

 in the Namaqua country, where it is called the Ghaip, and in the interior 

 of Southern Africa. The Pondicherry Vulture (V. Ponticerianus) is no 

 more than about two feet five inches in length, being scarcely larger than a 

 goose ; common in Bengal, Java, and Sumatra. The Imperial Vulture 

 (V. Imperials), rather more than three feet in length, a native of India. 

 The Crested Black Vulture (V. jEgyptius), about three feet and a half in 

 length; found on the high mountains of Africa, Asia, and Europe. The 

 Cinereous Vulture (V. Arrianus), three feet and a half in length ; found in 

 the mountains and forests of Hungary, of the Tyrol, Sardinia, the Pyrenees, 

 and of the south of Spain and Italy ; also found in India and Egypt. Tem- 

 minck says there is no difference between those of Asia and Africa and the 

 European species, and therefore quashes the several specific titles, Cinereus, 

 Bengaknsis, Vulgaris, Niger, and Cristatus, and employs the term Arrianus, 

 proposed by Picot la Peyrouse in his Zoolog. des Pyren. 



The Griffon Vulture (V. Fulvus) is four feet in length, and more than 

 twice as much in the expanse of its wings ; it is found on the lofty moun- 

 tains of the old world. It generally makes its nest in the clefts of rocks ; 

 but in Sardinia builds on the highest forest oaks a nest of sticks alx>ut 

 three feet wide. When once set to its meal, it does not leave it for days, 



