264 



BACKBONED ANIMALS. 



VALUE. As game. Pigeon-oil is used by Indians, and the birds 

 do a great work in dispersing seeds. After the Dutch Government at 

 the Moluccas destroyed all the nutmeg-trees on all the islands except 

 Great Banda, they were obliged to send a yearly commission to destroy 

 those that grew from nutmeg-seeds transported there in the crops of 

 the fruit-pigeons (Carpophaga concinna). Coffee-seeds and many oth- 

 ers are in this way carried from place to place. 



NOTE. The Feejee pigeons (Chiyscena] have remarkable feathers 

 upon the breast and neck. The barbs are devoid of barbules, having 

 instead small swellings arranged along at intervals, giving the plumage 

 a remarkably loose appearance. 



Order IX. Birds of Prey (Raptores). General Char- 

 acteristics. The birds of this order correspond in their 

 habits to the carnivorous mammals. They prey upon 

 animals dead or alive, and for the purpose have hooked 

 bills, and powerful claws. 



In the Vultures (Catkartida), the head and part of 



the neck is bare, 

 and the wings pow- 

 erful. The Califor- 

 nia condor (Pseudo- 

 gryphus California- 

 nus) rivals the great 

 condor of the Andes 

 in size, and four of 

 them have been seen 

 to drag a young 

 grizzly bear several 

 hundred feet. Their 

 total length is about 

 fifty inches, and the 

 spread of wings 

 nine feet. They 

 FIG. 298. Turkey buzzard. soa r high and sight 



their food, which 

 consists of dead animals, from great distances. The nest, 



