M 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph by David T. Griggs 

 YOUNG EAGI^ES TAKU OFP FROM THi;iR NEST IN ALASKA 



In three years these birds will perfect their plumage and they may live to be centenarians. 

 Eagles are not popular with Alaska fishermen, for they take heavy toll of the salmon going 

 up streams to spawn. 



circles high above the earth, where they 

 are conspicuous and are visible for long 

 distances. Some of the species of this 

 family are among the largest of flying 

 birds. 



FALCONS CAPABLE OF SWIFT FLIGHT 



The falcons, with their relatives the 

 caracaras, the family Falconidae (Plates 

 XIV, XV, XVI), in general are smaller 

 in size than the members of the other 

 group of hawks, and have longer, more 

 pointed wings, which give them swifter 

 flight that may be maintained at high 

 speed for long distances. 



Though some, such as the chimangos, 

 or carrion hawks, and the caracaras, may 

 be in part carrion feeders, the majority, 

 the true falcons, are fiercely predatory 

 hunters, in the true sense of the word, 

 whose appearance strikes terror among 

 other birds. The bill of the falcons, 

 sharply pointed at the tip, has a project- 

 ing tooth on the margin that is of assist- 

 ance in tearing their food. 



The New World vultures, family Ca- 

 thartidae (Plates I and II), although 



hawklike in form of body and spread of 

 wings, have relatively weak legs and feet 

 which are not used to seize or carry prey. 

 Their beaks, though strong, are not prom- 

 inently hooked, and except for their flying 

 muscles these birds are far less powerful 

 than their relatives. 



These are the scavengers among birds, 

 for whom no food is too repulsive, that 

 spend their days in scanning the surface 

 of the earth for dead creatures on which 

 they may feast. They are confined to the 

 Americas, the carrion-eating vultures of 

 other lands belonging to the Accipitridae. 



The secretary bird, the only living spe- 

 cies in the fourth family, Sagittariidae, 

 one of the most remarkable birds of the 

 entire order, stands nearly four feet high, 

 having long, slender legs like those of a 

 heron. Though it has strong wings, it 

 ordinarily runs on the ground, traveling at 

 need with great swiftness. It is found only 

 in Africa, from the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan 

 and Senegambia to Cape of Good Hope 

 Province. It feeds on snakes, lizards, and 

 various other animals, often killing them 

 by stamping on them with its feet. 



