a 
RAPACIOUS. 
No Vultures north of the Baltic , none in Great Britain. Various 
fpecies in Europe, Afia , Africa, and America , as low as T err a 
del Fuego. 
A fluggifh, ungenerous race ; prey oftener on dead animals, and 
even putrid carcafes, than on living creatures. Their fenfe of 
fmelling mod: exquifite. Collect in flocks from afar; directed 
to their prey by the fagacity of their nodrils. Fly flowly and 
heavily. Are mod greedy, and voracious to a proverb. Are 
not timid, for they prey ip. the midd of cities, undaunted by 
mankind. 
II. Falcon. 
Bill, hooked ; covered at the bafe with a naked membrane, or 
cere. 
Nostrils, fmall, oval, placed in the cere. 
Tongue, large, flefhy, and often cleft at the end. 
Head and Neck, covered with feathers. 
Legs and Feet, fcaly ; middle toe connected, from its fird joint, 
to that of the outmod, by a drong membrane. 
Claws, large, much hooked, and very {harp •; that of the out- 
mod toe the led. 
The Female larger and dronger than the male. 
Example. 
Golden Eagle, Br. Zool. fol. tab. A. Falcon gentil. Br. Zool. I. 
tab. XXI. Chinefe. E. N. Zealand, F. Latham’s Syn. of Birds. 
PI. 3, 4. 
A carnivorous, rapacious race ; not gregarious quick-flighted : 
Generally fly high. Build in lofty places ; except a few fpe- 
cies which nedle on the ground. 
Eagles and the larger kind of Falcons do not lay more than flour 
eggs ; fome of the lefler, fuch as the Kejlril, lay fix or {even ; 
the 
DSf 
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