COLLECTION OF BIRDS. 55^ 



at several leagues the prey best suited to its 

 voracity. 



At the bottom of the case is the Icemmer-geyer*, 

 or gypaetos of the Alps [yultur barbarus), the 

 largest bird of prey on our continent ; it mea- 

 sures ten feet between the tip of each wing. It 

 lives solitary on the steep rocks of the Swiss 

 mountains, carries away sheep, goats and cha- 

 mois, and it is said sometimes to have attacked 

 children. The cases from the third to the tenth 

 contain the numerous species of diurnal birds of 

 prey, which Linnaeus united under the generic 

 name of falco. 



Six species of eagles commence the series. The 

 royal eagle, the largest and most courageous is 

 the first. It hunts in the mountains for goats, 

 roes, and other quadrupeds of that size, and feeds 

 on dead animals only when pressed by hunger. 

 After this are the ospreys or fishing eagles, which 

 keep on the borders of the sea, or near the great 

 lakes, and the bald-buzzard, which lays waste the 

 fish-ponds. 



In the fifth case we see the great American 

 harpy of a size larger than the common eagle ; 

 and it is considered as having the claws and beak 

 stronger than any other bird. It generally feeds 

 upon the sloth, can carry away a fawn ; but the 

 rapidity of its flight being greatly diminished by 



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