294 



BRANCH CHORDATA 



Order XII. Rapto'res. — These are usually large, strong birds, 

 with hooked bill and strong claws for seizing and holding their 

 prey, which consists of fish, birds, rats, mice, and other small 

 mammals. To this order belong hawks, eagles, condors, buz- 

 zards, vultures, and owls. 



tsj.. 



Fig. 240. — Bald eagle {Halitre'lus leucoceph'alus) (drawn by R. Ridg- 

 way); 34 inches. (Bulletin 27, Biological Survey, U. iS. Dept. of Agri- 

 cul., 1906.) 



The hawks and eagles (Falcon'idce) (Fig. 240) comprise about three hun- 

 dred and fifty species and include such birds as the kites, hawks, buzzards, 

 and the osprey or fish-hawk. These are almost exclusively carnivorous. 

 Raptores are easily distinguished by thi'ir hooked bills and sharp talons. 

 They feed chiefly on rats and mice. Occasionally some of the hawks will 

 attack chickens, but there are more friends than foes among them. Hawks 

 build large nests of sticks in tall trees. They lay four whitish eggs with 

 brown blotches. 



