200 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
Order, they are remarkable for the strong incurvation of 
their bill and talons, the latter of which are four in num- 
ber on each of the feet, and are moved by means of a 
thick and strong muscular apparatus, which gives to the 
grasp of the larger species that extreme tenacity by which 
they are distinguished, enabling them to seize and carry 
off fish and birds, and even quadrupeds of moderate 
size. This innate propensity to rapine, derived from 
their peculiar conformation which renders them essen- 
tially flesh-eaters, indicates at once the analogical rela- 
tionship borne by the Rapacious Birds to the Carnivorous 
Quadrupeds ; and the high degree to which it is carried 
by the Eagles, their vast powers of flight, their towering 
majesty, their irresistible might, their uniform prefer- 
ence of living victims and rejection of the offal, render 
them superior to all other birds, in the same proportion 
as the Lion is allowed to take the lead among mammife- 
rous quadrupeds. 
The Eagles, properly so called, are characterized by a 
head covered with plumage and flattened above; eyes 
large, lateral, and deep-seated; a bill of great strength, 
arched and hooked at its extremity alone, and furnished 
at its base with a naked membrane, called the cere, in 
which the openings of the nostrils are situated ; ‘the 
wings broad and powerful; the tarsus, or that joint of 
each leg which is immediately above the toes, strong, 
short, and covered with feathers down to the very base ; 
the toes thick and naked, three of them pointing for- 
wards, and the fourth constantly directed backwards; 
and the talons of great power and strongly curved. The 
Golden Eagle, which occupies the right hand in the cut, 
is frequently three feet and a half in length from the 
