illMi 



D I V. I. LAND BIRDS. 

 ORDER I. RAPACIOUS. 



Birds of prey.— Bill and claws very ftrong and hooked, particularly adapted 

 to the tearing to pieces of their food : body mufcular : females largeft : they 

 feldom drink, the blood and juices of their prey affording fufficient moifture; 

 as they feldom feed on any animal but what they kill and gorge on direftly : 

 eagles lay two eggs, the leffer hawks four, and rarely have more than one neft 

 in the year; the Creator denying a large increafe to this deftruftive race: 

 whereas, on the contrary, thofe birds that are adapted to the ufe and neceffity of 

 man arc very prolific. 



GENUS I. FALCON. 



CharaEler of the Genus Falcon. 

 Bill, ftrong, and hooked at the end ; the bafe covered with a naked Ikin or cere. 

 Nostrils, at the end of the cere. 

 Tongue, large, flefhy, and in fome, cleft at the end. 

 Legs, very ftrong and fcaly. 



SPECIES I. SEA EAGLE. No. i. 



Falco Offifragus. Lin. Syft. I. p. 124. No. 4. 

 Le Grand Aigle de Mer. BriJ. Orn. I. p. 437- 

 This fpecies is found in feveral parts of Great Britain and Ireland; but, 

 like the reft of thefe large birds of prey, are not common. The length of 

 this bird is three feet and a half; the expanfion of the wings from tip to tip is 

 near eight feet: the bill is of a bluifti horn colour; cere yellow; eyes dark 

 brown : the plumage on the upper parts dark brown : breaft and belly pakr, 

 blotched with white in an irregular manner : the kgs are yellow, very ftout, and 

 feathered only to the knees. They feed moftly on fi(h ; which they take by 

 dardng on them when fwimming near the furface, and even, like the Kings- 

 fifher, plunging under water after their prey : they likewife feed on water- 

 fpwl, and are moftly feen hovering over the fea or large rivers. 



