BIRDS OF PREY AND OWLS 



8l 



large animals as antelopes, wolves, and foxes, as well as the more helpless fawns, lambs, hares 



and rabbits, and ducks, geese, grouse, and so on. 



Very different from the free-roving golden eagle and its allies is the South American 



HARPY-EAGLE. This is a denizen of the forest, of great size and enormous strength, as the 



powerful bill and feet testify. Whilst other 

 eagles are conspicuous for their powers of flight, 

 the present species is rarely seen on the wing, 

 being strictly a forest-dweller, with short wings 

 and tail, and of a somewhat owl-like plumage, 

 the feathers being very soft. At rest it is one 

 of the most striking of all the eagles. The 

 head is crested, the under parts of the body are 

 white, and the upper dark grey, banded with 

 black. It feeds upon sloths, peccaries, and spider- 

 monkeys. 



So recently as 1897 another forest-dwelling 

 species was discovered in the Philippines, and this 

 also preys largely upon monkeys. Its nearest 

 'ally is apparently the harpy-eagle, and, like this 

 species, it is a bird of large size and very 



Phtto ty Schtlastic Pheto. Co.] [Farten'i Green 



ANGOLAN VULTURE 



A common West African hird, living upon fish and carrion 



powerful. It is further remarkable for the 

 enormous size of the beak, which differs from 

 that of all other members of this group in being 

 much compressed from side to side. 



The sea, as well as the mountain and the 

 forest, is also, as it were, presided over by 

 members of this group, which are in consequence 

 called SEA-EAGLES. One species, the WHITE- 

 TAILED EAGLE, OR ERNE, is reckoned among 

 British birds, though it is fast verging on 

 extinction. In former days it bred on the sea- 

 cliffs of Scotland and Ireland, and in the Lake 

 District. The nest, or eyrie, as it is called, is 

 commonly placed on inaccessible cliffs, but some- 

 times on the ground or in a tree, and, as is 

 usual with the group, is made of sticks, with 

 a lining of finer materials. This eagle feeds 

 principally upon fish, though hares, lambs, and rabbits and carrion are occasionally taken. 



The Hawk Tribe, generally speaking, have the wings comparatively short, the legs long 

 and slender, and the edges of the beak with a sinuous outline and unnotched ; but it is 

 impossible to sharply define the group. The best-known species are the SPARROW- and Gos- 

 HAWKS. The first named is still a common British bird, but the latter has now become very 



bj W. P. Dandt, F.Z.S.~\ [Ktgint'i Park 



PONDICHERRY VULTURE 



This Indian species is remarkable for the loose fans of skin 'which 

 hang down on each side of the head 



