CHAPTER XII 
The Diurnal Birds of Prey, or Accipitrines,— Order Accipitres. 
The diurnal birds of prey were 
long classed in a single group with 
the owls and the ospreys, but first 
the former and then the latter 
were divided off ; and there is 
little doubt that view is correct, 
although, to our thinking, the meklins. 
ospreys appear to connect the two 
groups very intimately. Exclusive of the ospreys, the diurnal birds of prey, 
as they may be conveniently designated, include falcons, hawks, kites, eagles, 
buzzards, harriers, and vultures, together with the so-called secretary-bird of 
Africa and the American vultures; the two latter forming very aberrant groups, 
one or both of which are by some ornithologists regarded as constituting 
distinct orders. By the older naturalists the Accipitrines were placed at the head 
of the birds, but by common consent they have now to yield this position to the 
Passerines, which are, on the whole, the most highly organised members of the 
entire class. It must, however, be remembered that, for their own particular mode 
of life, the organisation of these birds is as perfect as it is possible to conceive; 
and, from the mechanical point of view, the spectacle of a falcon swooping on its 
quarry presents us with one of the very highest developments of bird-life. 
