246 VERTEBRATA. AVES. 



their utility in removing such nuisances, they are 

 generally protected and favoured. 



The Laemmer-geyer (Gypaetos* Barbatus) of the 

 Alps, is scarcely inferior in size to the last, and 

 superior in strength and ferocity ; being the con- 

 necting link with the Eagles. It is said even to 

 attack man, if found sleeping, and children have 

 been carried off by it. The head and neck, which 

 are naked in the true Vultures, are here clothed 

 with feathers. 



The Falcons are a very numerous division of the 

 birds of prey, comprising many genera. In them, 

 the structure suited to their carnivorous habits is 

 carried to its highest pitch of developement, though 

 even in them there is much variation of strength 

 and courage. Their countenance wears an aspect 

 of savage dignity, arising from the projecting and 

 lowering eye-brow, which gives them a constant 

 frown. Most of them feed exclusively on living 

 animals, which they seize by open violence, striking 

 them with their formidable talons. The use made 

 of the true Falcons, in the exciting sport called 

 Hawking, so eagerly pursued by our ancestors, has 

 acquired for them the epithet of " noble," in con- 

 trast with those called " ignoble," which cannot 

 be so employed. 



Falco^ the Falcon. 



We select the Jer-Falcon (F. Islandicus) as an 

 illustration of this genus, the most noble of all the 



* r^, gyps, a vulture, and atroV, aefos, an eagle, f Its Latin name. 



