OF THE BIRDS OF AFRICA. 83 



SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 



Giand comme un corbeau, noir, une longue huppe pendant de l'occiput ; les tarses, 

 le bord de l'aile, et des bandes sous la queue blanchalres. — Baron Cuvier. 



As big as a crow, black, with a long tuft hanging from the occiput ; the tarsi, the 

 edge of the wings, and the band under the tail, are whitish. — Griffith's Cuvier. 



Notwithstanding the great difference in the size of this species, 

 compared with that of the preceding {Aquila armigerd), yet it evi- 

 dently belongs to the same genus. Like the Griffard, the Tufted Gos 

 Eagle is courageous, and, like him, he lives principally by hunting, 

 only seeking offal, when, goaded by hunger, he can find nothing else 

 to feed on and appease his voracity. This is generally the case with 

 all birds of prey, to whatever genus they may belong. I have had so 

 many opportunities of verifying this remark, that, whatever our his- 

 torian-poets, and all those who have copied from them, may have said, 

 I must always maintain it to be false, that eagles, however they may 

 be pressed by hunger, never prey upon carrion. 



Like the Griffard, this eagle is also characterised by a crest, but a 

 much longer one. His legs are likewise covered with fine down, which 

 extends to the root of the toes. His curved beak, and his strongly- 

 arched and sharp talons — although he is not much bigger than our 

 largest buzzards — proclaim him to be a bird of war and destruction. 

 Not being sufficiently strong to seize and strike down such animals as 

 the gazelle, the Tufted Gos Eagle satisfies himself with smaller game, 

 such as hares, ducks, and partridges, which he pursues with great 

 swiftness and dexterity, his long wings, the points of which extend 

 nearly to the extremity of the tail, enabling him to catch such birds, 

 which are very swift, with tolerable facility. 



I have named this eagle from the sort of crest which so particularly 

 characterises him. This tuft of feathers takes its rise upon the hind 

 head (occiput), is prolonged five or six inches backwards, and descends 

 gracefully, and with a slight curve, towards the back. It is so flexible 

 and light, that the least wind or slightest motion of the body, makes it 

 play. The thousand different forms this tuft assumes, gives to the 

 bird a peculiar air of gracefulness. Our ladies know well how to appre- 

 ciate the value of such an ornament. 



The general colour of the bird is dull brown, lighter upon the neck 

 and breast, and deeper upon the whole mantle and the abdomen. The 

 long feathers (culottes) of the legs are mottled, and the down which 

 covers the shank in its entire length, to the origin of the toes, is still 

 more mottled with the same colour. The large quill feathers of 



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