Eaglks.] 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



259 



outermost versatile. Claws large, much curved, 

 equal, and rounded underneath; under surface of 

 toes very rough with sharp pointed scales. Wings 

 long and ample, second and third quill-feathers the 

 longest. See Fig. 1213, the Head and Foot of the 

 Osprey. 



The osprey is widely spread, heing dispersed 

 over Europe and a great part of Asia, as well as 

 North Ameriea, but is everywhere a bird of passage. 

 Being strictly piscivorous, it is only in the vicinity 

 of lakes and rivers and along the coast that it is 

 ordinarily met with. In England, according to 

 Montagu, this bird is more abundant in Devonshire 

 than in any other district. In Ireland it occasion- 

 ally visits the lakes of Killarney. In Scotland it. 

 appears to be more common. Mr. Selby observed 

 several upon Loch Lomond, where they are said 

 to breed, and upon Loch Awe, where an eyrie is 

 annually established upon the ruins of a castle near 

 the southern extremity of the lake, and another in a 

 similar situation nearly opposite to the gorge or 

 egress of the River Awe. On the Continent this 

 bird annually visits the larger rivers and lakes of 

 Russia, Germany, and the middle districts of Europe, 

 whence it passes southwards on the approach of 

 winter. In its habits it appears to be partially gre- 

 garious, several pairs associating together, and in 

 harmony pursuing their occupation. In America 

 the fish-hawk, according to Wilson, arrives on the 

 coasts of New York and New Jersey about the 21st' 

 of March, and retires to the south about the 22nd of 

 September. " On the arrival of these birds in the 

 northern parts of the United Stales in March, they 

 sometimes find the bays and ponds frozen, and ex- 

 perience a difficulty in procuring fish for many 

 days ; yet there is no instance on record of their 

 attacking birds or inferior land-animals with intent 

 to feed on them, though their great strength of 

 flight, as well as of feet and claws, would seem to 

 render this no difficult matter. To the white- 

 headed eagle the arrival of these fish-hawks brings 

 promise of gain ; we have shown the tyrannical 

 conduct of the former ; sometimes, however, a num- 

 ber of the fish-hawks make common cause against 

 their oppressors, and succeed in driving them from 

 the scene of action. "The first appearance of the 

 fish-hawk in spring is welcomed by the fishermen 

 as the happy signal of the approach of those vast 

 shoals of herring, shad, &c, that regulariy arrive 

 on the coast, and enter the rivers in prodigious 

 multitudes. Two of a trade, it is said, seldom 

 agree : the adage, however, will not hold good in 

 the present case, for such is the respect paid to 

 the fish-hawk, not only by this class of men, but 

 generally by the w^hole neighbourhood where it 

 resides, that a person who should attempt to shoot 

 one of them would stand a fair chance of being 

 insulted. This prepossession in favour of the fish- 

 hawk is honourable to their feelings. They asso- 

 ciate with its first appearance ideas of plenty and 

 all the gaiety of business ; they see it active and 

 industrious, like themselves ; inoffensive to the pro- 

 ductions of their farms, building with confidence, 

 and without the least disposition to concealment, 

 in the middle of their fields and along their fences, 

 and returning year after year regularly to its former 

 abode." 



The flight of this bird is easy and graceful, and 

 its plunge, when sweeping down to its finny prey, 

 inconceivably rapid. Audubon says that it never 

 strikes at a fish leaping out of the water. In the 

 Gulf of Mexico, where these birds are numerous, 

 and where shoals of flying-fish are continually 

 emerging from the sea to escape the pursuit of the 

 dolphins, he observed that the fish-hawks never 

 made a sweep at them, but would at once plunge 

 after them, or other fish, while swimming in their 

 usual mode near the surface. When it plunges 

 into the water in pursuit of a fish, it sometimes 

 proceeds deep enough to disappear for an instant, 

 throwing the water around into foam : on rising, it 

 mounts a few yards into the air, shakes off the 

 spray, and flies off to its nest with its booty, or to 

 an accustomed tree, there to satisfy its appetite, 

 when, without longer repose, it again launches into 

 the air, and sails, circling at a great height over the 

 waters. 



The nest of the fish-hawk is built on a tree, and 

 consists of a mass of sticks, seaweed, grass, turf, &c, 

 and being repaired every year, is sometimes a fair 

 cartload/ Among the interstices of the materials 

 other birds are permitted to nidify, and several pairs 

 of grakles, or crow-blackbirds, may be often seen 

 taking up their abode around the margin and sides 

 of the structure, " like humble vassals round the 

 castle of their chief," laying their eggs, rearing; 

 their young, and living together in the utmost 

 harmony. 



The fish-hawk breeds in May ; and both parents 

 are devoted to their young, defending them from 

 any assailant with indomitable resolution, and 

 using both beak and talons with terrible effect. 

 The young are generally three in number. The 



eggs are yellowish white irregularly spotted with 

 yellowish brown. 



The fish-hawk is about two feet in length, and 

 about five feet three or four inches in expanse of 

 wing. The plumage is very compact and imbri- 

 cated ; bill brownish black, blue at the base ; cere 

 light blue, iris yellow. Feet pale greyish blue, 

 claws black. General colour of the upper parts 

 dusky brown ; tale barred with pale brown; upper 

 part of head and neck white, with a brown mark on 

 the crown, and a brown stripe from the bill down 

 each side of the neck. Under parts of the neck 

 brownish white streaked with dark brown. Under 

 parts generally white. 



1214. — The Barred Hsematornis 



(Hcematornis undulatus). The genus Hsematornis, 

 which contains several species, was first charac- 

 terized by Mr. Vigors. Beak rather strong, mode- 

 rately elongated : upper mandible straight at the 

 base, very much curved at the apex ; nostrils oval 

 and oblique. Wings long, and rather rounded. 

 Feet weak for an eagle ; tarsi rough, reticulated 

 with scales; toes rather short; claws strong; tail 

 moderate and rounded. 



To this genus belongs the Bacha Eagle of South 

 Africa (H. Bacha) ; the Manilla Heematornis (H. 

 holospilus) ; and the Barred Hsematornis (H. un- 

 dulatus), a native of the Himalayan Mountains. 



The description of the latter is as follows : — 

 Back and wings intense brown ; head crested with 

 feathers white at the base, black at the point. 

 Wing-coverts marked with small white spots ; quill- 

 feathers marked with white towards the base of the 

 inner web. Under parts brownish red ; breast with 

 wavy bands of brown ; abdomen with white spots 

 margined with a ring of brown. Cere, base of beak, 

 and legs yellow ; claws black. Length about two 

 feet, seven'inches (male) ; female a third larger. 



Of the habits of this species little is known : pro- 

 bably they resemble those of the African species, 

 which preys habitually on the Daman, or Cape 

 Hyrax, watching for its victims, as they emerge from 

 their retreats, and instantly darting upon them. 



1215, 1216.— The Harpy Eagle 

 (Harpyia destructor). The Harpy Eagle constitutes 

 the type of a distinct section among the birds 

 of prey, a section first established by Cuvier, and 

 adopted by most naturalists. The species compre- 

 hended in this genus, Harpyia, are exclusively 

 American : they are characterized by the. enormous 

 thickness and strength of the tarsi, which are 

 feathered halfway down ; the wings are short and 

 rounded ; the beak is strongly hooked, as are the 

 talons also, and of formidable magnitude. Com- 

 paring the harpy with the golden eagle, we ob- 

 serve'the former to be distinguished not only by 

 shorter, but by more rounded wings, by tarsi far 

 more robust, and only partially feathered, by more 

 powerful talons, and by a more stout and curved 

 beak : the physiognomy of the two birds is also very 

 different; both have a stern, but glistening eye, 

 indicative of courage and ferocity ; of both the port 

 is royal, but the arrangement of the feathers of the 

 head in the harpy in some degree reminds us of the 

 great-eared owl. In the golden eagle the head 

 and neck are covered with long, narrow pointed 

 leathers, which fall over each other, and yet pre- 

 serve their distinctness of appearance. On the con- 

 trary, the feathers of the neck and sides of the head 

 in the harpy eagle are broad and rounded at their 

 anterior margin, and capable of being puffed up ; 

 while on the back of the head, the feathers, still of 

 the same character, but longer, form a crest, which 

 the bird can raise or depress at pleasure. The 

 middle feathers of this crest are shorter than the 

 more lateral, so that when erected it is lowest in the 

 centre, and rises at each side somewhat in the form 

 of ears or tufts; but the proud deportment and 

 the fierce glance of the eyes redeem the owl-like 

 character thus given to the head. Often have we 

 watched the splendid harpy eagle in the gardens 

 of the Zoological Society, as he has sat upright on 

 his perch, and motionless as a statue, unmoved by 

 every attempt, to intimidate him, or disturb his 

 dignified composure, while the gleam of his eye 

 fixed steadily upon us betokened at once daring 

 and energy. In strength none can equal him ; in 

 courage and ferocity none excel him. But we have 

 seen the harpy eagle under other circumstances : 

 we have seen him feasting on his slaughtered prey, 

 with his talons buried in the body, and his beak 

 crimson with gore ; on our approach, instead of 

 quitting it, he has expanded his ample wings over 

 it, so as to conceal it, and assumed a menacing atti- 

 tude, as if prepared to contest the possession of it to 

 the utmost ; and such was the ferocity and power 

 displayed, as to convince us that any attempt at 

 interference (had it been practicable) would have 

 been a most dangerous undertaking. The harpy 

 eagle is a native of Guiana and other parts of South 

 America, where it frequents the deep recesses of 



the forests remote from the abodes of man. Of its 

 habits, however, in a state of nature, we have but 

 little information. It is feared for its great strength 

 and fierceness, and is reported not to hesitate in 

 attacking individuals of the human race ; nay, that 

 instances have been known in which persons have 

 fallen a sacrifice, their skulls having been fractured 

 by the blows of its beak and talons. This may be 

 an exaggeration, but certainly it would be a hazard- 

 ous experiment to venture unarmed near the nest 

 of a pair of these formidable eagles. Hernandez 

 states that this species not only "thus ventures to 

 assault man, but even beasts of prey. According to 

 Mandruyt, it makes great destruction amongst the 

 sloths, which tenant the branches of the forest, and 

 are ill fitted to resist, so formidable an antagonist; 

 it also destroys fawns, cavies, opossums, and other 

 quadrupeds, which it carries to its. lonely retreat, 

 there in solitude to satiate its appetite. Monkeys 

 are also to be numbered among its victims; but the 

 sloth is said to constitute its ordinary prey. Of its 

 nidification we know nothing; as the eagles, how- 

 ever, lay only from two to three eggs, it is reason- 

 able to suppose that the present species is not an 

 exception to the rule. 



It has been correctly observed by Mr. Selby, that 

 the members of the Aquiline division of the Rap- 

 torial order do not possess the same facility of pur- 

 suing their prey tipon the wing which we see in the 

 falcons and hawks ; for though their flight is very 

 powerful, they are not capable of the rapid evolu- 

 tions that attend the aerial attacks of the above- 

 named groups, in consequence of which their prey 

 is mostly pounced upon on the ground. The short- 

 ness of the wings of the harpy eagle, when compared 

 with those of the golden eagle of Europe, and their 

 rounded form and breadth, though well adapting 

 them for a continued, steady flight, render them 

 less efficient as organs of rapid and sudden aerial 

 evolutions than those of the latter; but as it in- 

 habits the woods, and does not prey upon birds, but 

 upon animals, incapable of saving themselves by 

 flight, its powers of wing (or rather the modification 

 of those powers) are in accordance with the circum- 

 stances as to food and locality under which it is 

 placed. If the harpy eagle soars not aloft, hovering 

 over plains and mountains, it threads the woods, 

 it skims amidst the trees, and marks the sloth sus- 

 pended on the branch, or the monkey dozing in 

 unsuspicious security, and with unerring aim strikes 

 its defenceless victims. Mr. Selby, commenting on 

 the fierceness of a pair of golden eagles in his pos- 

 session, and their readiness to attack every one 

 indiscriminately, observes that when living prey (as 

 hares, rabbits, or cats) are. thrown to them, the 

 animal is "instantly pounced on by a stroke behind 

 the head, and another about the region of the heart, 

 the bill appearing never to be used but for the 

 purpose of tearing up the prey when dead." It is 

 precisely in this manner that the harpy eagle deals 

 with its victims ; death seems the work of an 

 instant ; the strongest cat, powerless in his grasp, is 

 clutched, and expires. Nor will this surprise any 

 one who has contemplated the power seated in the 

 talons of this bird ; strong as are the talons of the 

 golden eagle, great as is the muscular development 

 of its limbs, and formidable as are its claws, they 

 seem almost trifling compared with those of the 

 harpy eagle. In the museum of the Zoological 

 Society are skeletons of both these birds, which it is 

 interesting to compare together. The thickness of 

 the bones of the limbs in the latter, and especially of 

 the tarsus, which is more than double that of the 

 golden eagle, and the enormous size of the talons, 

 are sufficient to convince the observer of the ease 

 with which, when living, the fierce bird would bury 

 its sharp-hooked claws in the vitals of its prey, and 

 how vain resistance when the fatal grasp was taken. 

 In its native regions the harpy eagle is said to be 

 by no means common ; were it so, the destruction 

 occasioned by its presence would, it might be 

 naturally expected, preponderate over the reno- 

 vation of the species which constitute its habitual 

 food, and the balance which Nature has established 

 between the destroyed and the destroying, the 

 sanguinary and their victims, be thus disarranged. 

 No doubt that (as is the case with all carnivorous 

 animals) its numerical ratio in a given space is pro- 

 portionate to that of the animals on which it is 

 destined habitually to feed. Where the sloth is 

 most abundant, there will most abound the harpy 

 eagle. 



The general colour of this noble bird is slate- 

 black; the head is light slate-grey, passing into 

 dusky black on the crest ; the under parts are 

 white, with a broad band of dark slate-colour across 

 the chest. The tail is barred with black and slate- 

 colour. The beak and claws are black ; the tarsi 

 yellow. 



1217 to 1220.— Ths Lammergeyer 

 (Gypaetus barbatus). Among the Raptorial birds, 

 classed by naturalists under the Aquiline section. 



2L2 



