THE FALCOXID^: FAMILY. 



855 



size of the domestic Turkey. The tawny Caracara, a bird of the genus 

 Polyborus, as large as the common Kite, and with a tail nine inches 

 long ; and the Harpy Eagle (Thrasaetus), distinguished by its formi- 

 dable beak and legs, its erect crest and flashing eyes both widely 

 distributed in all the hot regions of the New World belong to the 

 Falconidce family (in the latest classification), as well as the great 

 white-headed Fishing Eagle, or Pygargue (Haliaetus Leucocephalus], 

 which inhabits the northern continent. The latter has been elo- 



1. Cathartes-Urubu. 



2. King of the Vultures. 



quently described by the Paisley ornithologist, the celebrated 

 Wilson : * "Elevated on the high dead branch of some gigantic tree 

 that commands a wide view of the neighbouring shore and ocean, he 

 seems calmly to contemplate the motions of the various feathered 

 tribes that pursue their busy avocations below; all the winged multi- 

 tudes that subsist by the bounty of this vast liquid magazine of 

 Nature. High over all these hovers one whose action instantly 

 * A. Wilson, " American Ornithology." 



