38 OF THE FALCON OR EAGLE TRIBE. 



large trees, and they may be seen on a summer morning spreading out 

 their wings to the rising sun, and remaining in that posture for a con- 

 siderable time. 



OF THE FALCON OR EAGLE TRIBE. 



THE bill is hooked ; and is furnished at the base with a naked 

 membranaceous skin, called cere. The head 

 and neck are thickly beset with feathers. 

 The nostrils are small, and placed in the 

 cere ; and the tongue is broad, fleshy, and 

 generally cleft at the end. The legs and 

 feet are strong, muscular and scaly ; and 

 the large, hooked, and very sharp claws, 

 are well calculated for the predacious habits 

 of the animals. The middle toe is connected 

 to the outermost by a strong membrane, 

 and the claw of the outer toe is smaller 

 than that of any of the others. 



This tribe differs from the last princi- 

 pally in the animals having their bill and 

 claws much more hooked and sharp ; in 



having the head and neck in general thickly covered with feathers, 

 instead of being naked, or covered only with down ; and also in their 

 usually killing their prey and eating it while fresh. The exuviaB and 

 bones of their food they always emit at the mouth, in the form of 

 round pellets. 



This,. as well as the last, is an excessively rapacious tribe of birds. 

 They prey altogether on animal food ; yet they seldom feed on carrion, 

 except when driven to it by necessity. They are able to sustain 

 hunger for a very great length of time ; often taking in as much food 

 at once, as will last them for several days without a fresh supply. Many 

 of these species eat fish, and others are content to subsist on snakea 

 and reptiles. 



They never associate ; and, except during the breeding season, even 

 two of them are seldom seen together. They are extremely quick 

 sighted, and soar to amazing heights in the air. When they dis- 

 cern their prey, they dart upon it with the swiftness of an arrow : and 

 their strength is so great, that some of them have been known to 

 carry to their offspring a load nearly as heavy as themselves, and 

 from a distance of forty miles and upwards. Most of them build their 

 nests in lofty and inaccessible places ; but a few of the species form 

 them" on the ground. In general the females are much larger than 

 the males ; for the purpose, as some persons have conjectured, of more 

 easily providing food for their offspring. 



About a hundred and forty different species have been discovered, 

 of which upwards of twenty are natives of Great Britain ; but, from 

 the extreme difference in appearance, between many of the males and 

 females of the same species it is sometimes a difficult task to ascertain 

 them. 



