74 
NATURAL HISTORY. [uPPEH FLOOR, 
presented by Archibald Menzies , Esq.; the Turkey Buz¬ 
zard of North i\merica; and the Monk and Common 
Neophron from Africa. 
The family of Vultures (Cases 2 to 4) have naked heads 
like the former, but their nostrils are perpendicular; as 
the Pondicherry Vulture, Egyptian Vulture, Fulvous 
Vulture. White-backed Vulture, and the Angola Vulture; 
these are all from the warm parts of the Old world. 
The family of Griffons, (at the bottom of Case 4,) 
have rather small heads and long bilks, surrounded at the 
base by tufts of bristles. The Bearded Vultures of the 
Alps and Himalaya Mountains are amongst the largest of 
the Raptorial Birds, and their quill feathers often more 
than two feet and a half long. These are probably the 
Rock or Condor of the Indians, the true Condor being 
only found in America; they are the Lammergeier, or 
Vulture of the Alps. 
The family of Falcons (Cases 5 to 12) have their heads 
covered with feathers, and the eyebrows prominent, giving 
the eye the appearance of being set deep in the head, and 
imparting a character to these birds, very different from 
that of the Vultures. The Noble Falcons are the birds 
used in falconry; the Ignoble Falcons have simple nostrils; 
some, as the Hawks, have ovate rather longitudinal nostrils, 
whilst the Honey Buzzard and Osprey Kites have an 
oblique slit covered with a valve behind, and the Eagles 
and Sea Eagles have an oblong exposed nostril placed 
perpendicularly across the front of the cere. Among 
the Hawks, the most remarkable bird is the Secretary, 
(Case 10,) found at the Cape, called also the Serpent 
Eater, from its preying on those reptiles. The French 
attempted to naturalize this bird in Martinique, in order 
to destroy the lance-headed serpent, which abounds in that 
island. 
Cases 13 and 14 contain the Nocturnal Birds of 
Prey, or the family of Owls ; some of which, as the 
Eared Owls, have a tuft of long feathers over the eye¬ 
brows, capable of being erected at the pleasure of the ani¬ 
mal, whence they are also called Horned owls. The most 
nocturnal birds of this family have very large ears, and 
those that fly both in the day and the night have them 
small like the hawks. 
