226 



ZOOLOGY. 



zo}}haps) soUtarius, inhabited the island of Rndrignez, hav- 

 ing been exterminated about the same date (1681). These 

 were clumsy, defenceless birds, incapable of flight, and 

 were destroyed by the domestic animals which accompanied 

 the Portuguese voyagers to the Mascarene Islands. 



The wild pigeon {Ectopis/es migraiorius) assembles in 

 lar"-e flocks, chiefly in the Central States, but though for- 

 merly excessively abundant it is now nearly exterminated, 

 and is seen only in scattered small numbers. 



Order 8. Raptores (Eaptorial birds). — The birds of prey 

 (Raj^tores), comprising the vultures, buzzards, falcons, 



Fio. 267. — Head of Condor. From Liitken's Zoology, 



hawks, eagles, and nocturnal owls, have a hooked and cercd 

 beak, i.e., with a waxy, dense membrane situated at the 

 base of the upper mandible. The chuvs are large and sharp, 

 Tlie raptorial birds live either on birds and mammals, or 

 fisli, reptiles, batrachians, and insects. Of tlie vultures, 

 the most notable for size is tlie condor. of the Andes {Sar- 

 corJiampus ffrypJnui, Fig, 207), which has great powers of 

 flight, its wings expanding nearly tliree metres (nine feet). 

 The carrion crow and turkey buzzard [CatJiartes atnitus 

 and C. aura) are useful as scavengers, esjiecially tlie former, 

 which is partly domesticated in snuthern cities and towns; 

 they nest on the ground or in stumps, and are more or less 



