CHAPTER VIII. 



RAPTOEES, OE BIRDS OF PREY. 



The Raptores enjoy a greater amount of public notoriety than 

 almost any other birds, although they are of little or no ser- 

 vice to us, and possess iniinitely fewer claims to our interest 

 than a multitude of other winged creatures. The audacitj' and 

 courage bj^ which several species are distinguished, the marvellous 

 stories to which their exploits have given rise, and the supersti- 

 tious terror caused by their appearance maj^ help to explain the 

 reason of their popularity. Poets and novel-writers, in order to 

 characterise their heroes, have often inspired them with the quali- 

 ties or defects of some of the Ptapacious birds. They have made 

 the Eagle a tj-pe of nobility, strength, and valour ; the Yulture 

 the incarnation of cowardlj^ and unclean cruelty. The Owl, with 

 its staring aspect and noiseless flight, has become with them a 

 bird of ill omen ; its doleful hoot echoinir through the shades 

 of night, over the house of sickness, is an infallible prediction of 

 death. These superstition.? have had considerable influence upon 

 popular imagination, and have thus passed into habitual use in 

 conversation. 



The Rapacious order is characterised by a verj' strong, hooked, 

 and sharp-edged bill, which is furnished at its base with a mem- 

 brane called the cere — it is generally of a yellow colour, and upon 

 it the nostrils open ; strong legs, covered with feathers ; four toes, 

 three in front and one behind, which are usually very flexible, and 

 provided with crooked and retractile talons, often possessed of con- 

 siderable strength. Their powers of vision are very great, and they 

 are marvellously organised for flight ; their long and vigorous 

 wings enabling them to hover in the highest regions of the air, 



