CHAPTER IX 

 BIRDS OF PRET J\I) OIl'LS 



BIRDS OF PREY 



T one time the boundaries of this group were much larger 

 than now, for within them were included at least 

 form which has since proved to belong to the Ci.inc 

 Tribe: we allude to the Seriema (page 42Si, 

 and also to the Owls. This classification was 

 based on the very remarkable superficial 

 resemblance to the typical birds of prey 

 which those forms bear. Modern ornitho- 

 logists regard as birds of prey onlv the 

 forms known as the \cw World Yiiltinv-. 

 the Secretary-bird, and the Falcons, I .a-1. ~. 

 Vultures, Buzzards, and the numcn >us smaller 

 forms commonly classed as " Hawks." 



Phut f>t SthIaiti{ Ptittt. C.] 



CONDOR 



[Pfntn't Grtin 



The habit of standing with tke wings exf aided it a very 

 common one with these bird* 



THE NEW WORLD VULTURES 



These may be distinguished from 

 their distant relatives of the Old World 

 by the fact that the nostrils are not 

 divided from one another by a partition, 

 and by their much weaker feet. The 

 head and neck in all, as in the true 

 vultures, is more or less bare, and, 

 furthermore, is often very brilliantly 

 coloured, in which last .particular these 

 birds differ from the typical vultures. 



One of the most important members 

 of the group is the CONDOR, one of the 

 largest of flying birds, and when on 

 the wing the most majestic. " When the 

 condors," says Darwin, " are wheeling in 

 a flock round and round any spot, their 

 flight is beautiful. Except when rising 

 off the ground, I do not recollect ever 

 having seen one of these birds flap its 

 wings. Near Lima I watched several for 

 nearly half an hour, without once taking 



. f. D**d,, f.X.S. 



CONDOR 



The bare sJtin of the head and nick it of a da'k purple colour, the rujft 

 circling the neck being of pure white d^-wn-J'tathert 



7-4 



