56 Falcon' 



the inhabitants of the undrained cities and villages of the east 

 and south could exist. 



Neither should we condemn their cowardice, as we watch a 

 vulture of large size and imposing aspect, with bald head and 

 naked neck, and forbidding beak, driven away from a savoury 

 carcase by some impertinent hooded crow a very giant giving 

 place to a pigmy. It is not the nature of the vulture to attack 

 any animals, or to fight, or to resist. He is but fulfilling his 

 destiny in the sphere assigned to him, as, to his own mortification, 

 he withdraws from the coveted banquet which he had just begun 

 to enjoy, on the arrival of some bold but puny self-invited guest, 

 biding his time till other more fierce birds or beasts have satisfied 

 their appetites, when he in turn gorges himself to repletion, and 

 then, with drooping wings and widespread tail, basks in the 

 blazing sunshine. At such times they are not pleasing objects, 

 but, on the contrary, disagreeable and even disgusting ; but it is 

 otherwise as we watch them soaring on outstretched wing high in 

 the air, now advancing in wide circles, and ever scanning the 

 ground below with piercing eyes, constantly on the look-out for 

 some savoury morsel. In their own lands, too, their numbers 

 are astonishing ; and it is wonderful to see them collect from all 

 parts of the heavens when one of their fellows has detected some 

 choice carrion, and his descent upon it has been descried by 

 others from their exalted position, far beyond the reach of human 

 sight 



The second family, ' FalconicUe/ embraces the Eagles, Falcons, 

 Buzzards, Harriers and Hawks, of all descriptions ; and each of 

 these genera is represented by one at least, and some by several 

 species, which from tune to time, with more or less frequency, 

 may be seen within the borders of Wiltshire. Most of them, 

 however, are becoming scarcer every year, driven away by inces- 

 sant persecution, and some of them seem to have altogether 

 abandoned the localities they frequented but a few years ago. 

 So much is this the case, that to see a hawk on the wing, though 

 he be of the commonest species, is not now the every-day sight 

 that it was only thirty years ago. To meet with this great family 



