279 
PART III. 
ON THE NATURAL HISTORY AN1> RELATIONS OF THE 
DIFFERENT ORDERS^ TRIBES^ AND FAMILIES OF 
BIRDS. 
CHAPTER I. 
ON THE RAETOKIAL ORDER, OR BIRDS OF PREY. 
(230.) The rapacious birds, like the feline qua- 
drupeds which they represent, form a distinct and pri- 
mary order in their own class. In comparison to the 
Imessores, or perchers, their number is but few ; for 
had it been otherwise, their sanguinary habits would 
have soon depopulated the feathered creati^. hor the 
same wise and conservative principles they propagate 
slowly. While the domestic fowl rears with facility a 
brood of ten or fifteen little ones, and the prolific spar- 
row, both feeding upon the seeds of the earth, lays from 
eight to ten eggs, the eagle seldom hatches more than 
two, and thii hut once a year. As if conscious that 
they were the known and detested enemies both of man 
and beast, they build only in wild and desert solitudes ; 
shunning, and shunned by, their own class, except when 
they leave their retreats to seek and devour them. 
(231.) Rapacious birds comprise some of the largest 
of the feathered creation, and they are notoriously the 
most muscular and powerful. The flight of the eagle 
has been the theme of poets, and there are few of that 
family which do not show great strength of wing. The 
male is considerably smaller than the female ; a dis- 
proportion not found in other birds, and for which it 
is difficult to account, seeing that both sexes hunt the 
same description of game, and evince the same courage. 
It is a mistake among compilers to say that “ the fe- 
males are handsomer” than the males, for the very con- 
T 4 
