BRITISH BIRDS 



of 



RAPACIOUS birds, or those which subsist chiefly on 

 flesh, are much less numerous than rapacious quad- 

 rupeds ; and it seems wisely provided by Nature, 

 that their powers should be equally confined and 

 limited with their numbers ; for if to the rapid 

 flight and penetrating eye of the Eagle, were joined 

 the strength and voracious appetite of the Lion, the 

 Tiger, or the Glutton, no artifice could evade the 

 one, and no speed could escape the other. 



The characters of birds of the ravenous kind are. 

 particularly striking, and easily to be distinguished; 

 the formidable talons, the large head, the strong 

 and crooked beak, indicate their ability for rapine 

 and carnage ; their dispositions are fierce, and their 

 nature is untractable ; cruel and unsociable, they 

 avoid the haunts of civilization, and retire to the 

 most gloomy and wild recesses, where they can 

 enjoy, in solitude, the fruits of their depredations. 

 The ferocity of their nature shew r s itself even to- 

 wards their young, which they drive from the nest 

 at a very early period. The difficulty of procuring 

 a constant supply of food for them probably over- 

 comes the feelings of parental affection, and they 



