GRIFFINS.— FALCONS. 35 



the size of a crow : it is very common in the warm countries of 

 the eastern continent, and follows the caravans through the 

 desert to devour all that die. The ancient Egyptians respected 

 it on account of the services it rendered the country by removing 

 dead bodies : it is often seen represented on their monuments. 

 Even at the present day no injury is offered to it, and there are 

 even devout mussulmans who bequeath wherewith to support a 

 certain number. 



2-3. In America there is another species of Percnopterus, the 

 Urubu, — Vnlturjota, — which performs the same services there. 



Tribe of Grifins, 



24. These birds, — Gypaetos, — (Plate 3, fig. 3.) have the head 

 and neck almost entirely covered with feathers ; the beak is 

 strong, straight, hooked at the end, and inflated on the curve : 

 the nostrils are covered by stiff bristles ; there is a pencil of 

 bristles under the beak; the tarsi are short and feathered to the 

 toes. 



• 25. In their conformation and habits, they very closely resem- 

 ble the Vultures. Their talons are proportionally weak, and their 

 wings are long and partly separate when in repose. When the 

 crop is full it projects at the lower part of the neck. 



26. The Lamb Vulture, — Vultur barbarus. — Falco barbatus, 

 — (The Laemmer-geyer) — which the Greeks named Phe?ie, and 

 the Latins called Ossifraga, is the largest of the birds of prey of 

 the eastern continent, the high mountain chains of which it in- 

 habits : it is almost as large as the Condor, and attacks lambs, 

 goats, chamois, and, it is said, even sleeping men. Generally it 

 endeavours to force animals to throw themselves from precipitous 

 rocks, and devours them after they have been killed by the fall. 

 His mantle is black with a white line in the middle of each feather, 

 and all beneath the body as well as the neck is of a clear, 

 brilliant, yellow colour. 



Tribe of Falcons. 



27 . The Diurnal Rapaces composing this tribe have the head 

 and neck covered with feathers, like the preceding, but are dis- 

 tinguished from them by their projecting eye-brows which make 



23. What is the Urubu ? 



24. How are the Griffins distinguished ? 



25. In what particulars do Griffins resemble Vultures ? 



26. What is the Lamb Vulture ? Where is it found 'I What are its habits ? 



27. How is the tribe of Falcons distinguished from other tribes of Diurnal 

 Rapaces ? 



