558 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



Vtaptores. falconry, with other chivalrous uses, been about to pass 

 v— ~v~"' away. 



SECT. I. DIURNAL BIRDS OF PREY. 



Cere usually naked, or partly covered by setaceous fea- 

 thers. Nostrils open. Eyes of medium size, lateral. 

 Head rather small, and elongated ; face not surrounded by 

 a completed disk of projecting feathers, as in owls. Ster- 

 num strong and solid. Stomach membranous. Intes- 

 tines not greatly extended. Caeca short. Toes naked. 



Of this section Linnaeus and the other naturalists formed 

 only two genera, Vultur and Falco, which some regard as 

 forming two large families, subdivided into numerous mi- 

 nor groups. There is, upon the whole, a well-marked 

 character, or at least a strong physiognomical distinction, 

 between the Vulturidce and Falconidce ; but this is more 

 easily seen than expressed, or, when expressed, is often 

 erroneously so. Thus a strong alleged distinction is the 

 nearly naked head of the former ; but the lammer-geyer 

 (G. barbatvs) has that part as densely plumed as any 

 eagle. However, the nails are generally blunt, and the 

 feet comparatively feeble. 



FAMILY I.— VULTURIDCE.' 



The birds of this family are of large size and gluttonous 

 habits. They prefer animal substances in a state of de- 

 composition to living prey, and are frequently gregarious. 

 The bill is never notched, and the feet and claws are more 

 feeble and less curved than among the Falconidas. Though 

 indolent, especially after meal time, they are distinguished 

 by "great powers of flight. Their bodies in repose assume 

 a more or less horizontal position. Their flesh is disgust- 

 ing as an article of food, but their down has been occasion- 

 ally made use of for domestic purposes. 



Genus Vultur, Cuv. Bill large and strong, compress- 

 ed, straight at the base, convex and rounded at the 

 point. Nostrils naked, rounded, obliquely pierced. Head 

 and neck bare of ordinary feathers, but covered by a short 

 down. A collar of long soft feathers at the base of the neck. 



The true vultures, as now restricted, belong to the an- 

 cient world. Their flight, though slow, is powerful and 

 long sustained. They frequently rise, by repeated gyra- 

 tions, to a great height in the air, and descend in a simi- 

 lar manner. They assemble in troops, and feed for the 

 most part on carcasses ; yet the Dalmatian shepherds are 

 said to dread their inroads among their sheep and lambs. 

 They build among inaccessible rocks, and feed their young 

 by emptying the unsavoury contents of their own crops. 

 It does not appear that they can transfix or carry off their 

 prey by means of their talons, as do hawks and eagles. 



We have two species in Europe, the cinereous vulture 

 ( V. cinereus, Linn. Plate CCCLXXXVIII. fig. 1), called 

 arrian on the Pyrenees, and the griffon or fulvous vulture 

 ( V.fulvus, Linn.). Both birds occur in Spain and the 

 Tyrol, but are scarcely ever seen in Switzerland, and are 

 rare in Germany. The nidification of the cinereous vul- 

 ture is still unknown. It probably never breeds in Eu- 

 rope, but rather in the mountainous countries of Asia, 

 where it is known to occur abundantly. The fulvous vul- 

 ture is more courageous than the preceding, and more 

 inclined to seize on living prey. It is common in the 

 neighbourhood of Gibraltar, abounds in Dalmatia during 

 winter, and has been observed to breed in Sardinia on 

 lofty trees. It lays two eggs, of a greenish white, with a 



rugose surface. It is widely spread over the continent Raptores. 

 of Africa. Several other species are found in the warmer v —" "~v— ' 

 regions of the old world. 



Genus Sarcoramphus, Dumeril. 2 Bill thick, straight 

 from the base, but strongly curved at the extremity, the 

 margin of the upper mandible having a somewhat sinuous 

 or S-like outline. Nostrils longitudinal and oblong. 

 Head and neck bare, wattled, surmounted by a fleshy 

 crest. 



This genus is confined to America, and consists of three 

 species, the famous condor of the Andes (S. condor), the 

 king-vulture (S. papa), and the Californian vulture (S. 

 californianus). The condor inhabits the loftiest of the 

 Andes, and in its aerial flights is supposed to attain to 

 a station far above that of every other living creature. 

 According to Humboldt, it soars to an elevation nearly 

 six times greater than that at which clouds are usually 

 suspended in the sky. At the vast height of almost six 

 perpendicular miles, the condor is seen majestically sail- 

 ing through the ethereal space, watchfully surveying the 

 airy depth in quest of his accustomed prey. When im- 

 pelled by hunger, he descends to the nearest plains which 

 border on the Cordilleras ; but his sojourn there is brief, 

 as he seems instinctively to prefer the desolate and lofty 

 mountains. The barometer amid such aerial haunts at- 

 tains only to the height of sixteen inches. These rocky 

 eyries (of which the plain is elevated about 15,000 feet 

 above the level of the sea) are known vernacularly by the 

 name of condor nests. There, perched in dreary solitude, 

 on the crests of scattered peaks, at the very verge of the 

 region of perpetual snow, these dark gigantic birds are 

 seen silently reposing like melancholy spectres. Hardly 

 an instance is known of their assaulting even an infant, 

 though many credulous travellers have given accounts of 

 their killing young persons often or twelve years of age. 3 

 The history of the condor, like that of its Patagonian 

 neighbours of the human race, has in fact been much ob- 

 scured by exaggeration. An inspection of its feet and 

 claws suffices to show that it is not gifted with great 

 prehensile power, and could scarcely carry off the most 

 ill-conditioned child, though not seldom accused of such 

 evil practices. Condamine informs us that he has often 

 seen condors hovering over flocks of sheep, some of which 

 they " would have carried away, had they not been 

 scared by the shepherds ;" and this vague supposition is 

 stated as a fact in their natural history ! It is a bird of 

 powerful wing, but of vulturine habits, feeding much on 

 dead animal matter, but not unfrequently joining together 

 in the attack of cattle, especially of such as are in any way 

 enfeebled. Although the usual station of the condor is 

 mountainous, it often descends, as we have said, to feed 

 among the plains and valleys ; and a female, now in the 

 French museum, was found at sea, sitting on the dead 

 body of a floating whale. It breeds amid the inaccessible 

 peaks of the Andes, making no nest, but depositing its 

 eggs upon the arid rock. It is a large bird, of from three 

 to four feet in length, with an extent of wing very various- 

 ly stated, but probably sometimes reaching from ten to 

 twelve feet. The female is of a much browner hue, and 

 wants the caruncles. She is less in size than the male, 

 an unusual circumstance in this order, although we sus- 

 pect that the greater bulk of that sex is a feature chiefly 

 characteristic of the hawks and eagles. 



"In riding along the plain," says Sir Francis Head, " I 

 passed a dead horse, about which were forty or fifty con- 

 dors ; many of them were gorged and unable to fly ; se- 

 veral were standing on the ground devouring the carcass ; 



1 On the modern groups into winch this family is divisible, the reader may consult a paper by Mr Vigors in the Zoological Jour, 

 ml, No. viii. p. 36'D. 



' Vultur, Linn. Cuv. ; Cathartcs, IUiger, Temm. 3 Nuttall's Manual of Ornithology, i. p. 36. 



