CHAPTER VI 



Birds of Prey — Secretary-bird, Eagles, Buz- 

 zards, Hawks, Kites, Vultures 

 AND Falcons 



ORDER— ACCIPITRES 



AMONG the Birds of Prey the older naturalists 

 included Owls, which they distinguished as 

 Nocturnal, or Night-flying, Birds of Prey. 

 But it is now known that Owls, though in many re- 

 spects closely resemhling the birds to be described in 

 this chapter, are members of a very different group. 

 They are, in short, nearly related to the Nightjars. 



The purpose of classification, it must be remem- 

 bered, is not so much to bring together those birds 

 which are externally similar, as those which are struc- 

 turally related one to another. Unrelated birds may, 

 and often do, resemble one another, because they lead 

 similar lives, and thus have become slowly changed till 

 they assume a common likeness; while birds, on the 

 other hand, which are really closely related, come to 

 assume very different shapes, because their mode of 

 life is different. 



The relationship of birds one to another is to-day 

 determined rather by anatomical structure than by ex- 



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