174 
FALCO. 
ther. As the two which Vailiant (hot were both females, 
lie does not defcribe the difference in plumage between 
the fexes : nor does he fpeak of their habits or nefting 
from his own knowledge ; but the favages informed him, 
that they build in the rocks ; that they attack lambs, and 
devour them on the (pot, never carrying away any part 
in their claws, even when they have young ones: in this 
therefore they referable the vultures, which carry food 
in the crop to their young, and difgorge it in the neft; 
while the eagles generally cany it entire to the airie, and 
there teach their young to tear and divide it. 
4. halco remex, the boatman. This has a remarkably 
fhort tail ; it reaches very little below the rump, the 
feathers of which more than half cover it; and it is not 
more than fix incites long in the whole ; fo that the bird 
lias by no means a graceful look, efpecially when on the 
wing ; the wings appear very wide on account of the 
fnortnefs of the tail. His manner of flying might make 
any one fuppofe it a bird that had loft his tail by accident; 
for he makes a number of ftrange motions as if unable to 
guide himfelf in the air; but Vailiant afeertained, that 
the fhort tail was the fpecific chat-after-, and thefe move¬ 
ments feem a playful dalliance by which he invites his 
female, who anfwers him in the fame manner. He ho¬ 
vers round and round, uttering two hoarfe notes, one an 
octave above the other ; fometim.es he flops his flight on 
a hidden, and defeends, beating his wings, like the night- 
hawk, as if one were broken, and he were about to fall 
to the ground. The female never fails to repeat the fame 
adions. The ruftling of their wings may then be heard 
at a great diftance, like a loofe fail agitated by the wind. 
This playfulnefs, which Vailiant compares to a boatman 
plying his oars for the amufement of the fpeftators, occa- 
iioned him to give it the name of batelier. Thefe birds 
are very common in the Auteniquois country, along the 
coaft of Natal, quite to Caft'raria. Vailiant feldom paffed 
a day in that lonely delightful country, as he calls it, 
without feeing feveral couples of them, for the male and 
female are feldom apart. 
This fpecies lias not the mufcular ftrength of the pre¬ 
ceding. The bill and claws are black; the bafe of the 
bill yellowifh ; legs and feet yellowifh-brown covered 
with large feales. The head, neck, front and under parts 
of the body, are black, which is relieved by the dark red 
of the back and tail ; the fcapularies are blackifh, and in 
particular lights take a bluifti-grey caft ; the fmaller wing- 
coverts are a kind of dun colour; the inner barbs of the 
wing-quills are black, but tinged outwardly, with light 
grey ; to that the wings when folded in appear almoft en¬ 
tirely of that colour. The eye is dark brown. The fe¬ 
rn,tie is one fourth larger than the male ; but her colours 
are in general weaker. They neftle on trees ; the eggs 
arc three or tour in number, and entirely white, as Vail- 
lant was allured by the (ettlers. The young ones are fo 
diiferent from the full-grown bird in colours, that they 
might be eaftly miftaken for another fpecies ; but Vailiant 
lhot the old ones and three young ones of the fame family, 
which put the matter out of doubt ; he afterwards (hot 
other young ones, though fomewhat older ; and he ob- 
ferves, that it is not till the third moult that the boatman 
receives his full livery. The young ones firft mentioned 
had molt of their plumage of a light brown, or fawn co- 
lpur ; in thofe fomewhat older, the red feathers began 
already to appear on the tail, and the black ones in other 
parts; in the young alfo, the origin of the bill is bluifli, 
the reft horn-colour, the feet yellowifti. 
Like the vultures, this bird feeds on all forts of carrion ; 
yet will often attack young gazelles, and will watch to 
lurprife’fick lambs or (heep ; young oftriches, if feparated 
by chance from the old ones, likewile become his prey. 
The lettlers in the Auteniquois country call him berg, 
haan, mountain-cock ; but this is a name they give to all 
buds of prey, particularly eagles. This bird, however, 
and the preceding, certainly have not the true generic 
char after of the eagles ; they (hould therefore (land be¬ 
tween the eagles and vultures ; but are placed here to 
avoid the confulion of new genera, though an entirely 
new' claffification of birds, Vailiant fays, is much w-anted. 
This fpecies was feen moftly on the fhoresof the Qneur- 
boom river, near Lagoa-bay. They are not gregarious, 
and are never feen in flocks, unlefs other birds of prey 
have drawn them together to feed upon fome carcafe ; but, 
as foon as they are gorged, each pair takes the road to its 
own neft, carrying food to their young in their crops, not 
in their claws. They are much attached to their young, 
and continue to feed them even after they have attained 
their full fize. 
5. Falco harpyja, the harpy eagle. Specific charafter P 
head crefted with long feathers ; body beneath variegated. 
This bird of South America, is deferibed by Marcgrave 
under the name urutaurana , which it receives from the 
Indians in Brafil, and is mentioned by Fernandes by the 
name of yfquautkli, by which it is called in Mexico. The 
Antilles are often vifited from the continent by this bird, 
which Du Tertre faysmuft be ranked at the head of the 
birds of prey in America. “ The natives of Tobago have 
called it tire Oroonoko eagle, becaufe they believe that 
this bird, which appears only occafionally in the ifland, fre¬ 
quents the banks of the great river Oroonoko. All its 
plumage is light grev, except the tips of the wings and of 
the tail, which are edged with yellow. Its eyes are lively 
and piercing; its wings very long; its flight rapid and 
fpeedy, conlidering the weight of its body. It fubfifls 
on other birds, on which it darts with fury, tears them in 
pieces, and fwallows them entire. It has been obferved, 
that it never attacks the bird when on the ground, or fit¬ 
ting on a branch, but waits till it rifes, and feizes it on 
the wing.” It is fomewhat fmaller than the common 
eagle, and refembles the fpotted or roughfooted eagle by 
the variety of its plumage. The crow ned eagle of Bra¬ 
fil, the Oroonoko eagle, the Peruvian eagle, the crowned 
eagle of Guinea, are all confidered by Buffon as the fame 
individual. 
6. Falco Jacquini, the Grenada eagle. Feathers of the 
head long, numerous; feet naked; body beneath ftiovvy. 
Back, wings, greater part of the neck and bill, black; 
head reddifti-afli, with a crefted tuft of long feathers, 
which when irritated are erefted ; tail long, whitidi, with 
tranfverfe black bands; feet and toes yellow; claws 
black. Inhabits the mountains of New Grenada; two 
feet and a half high. 
7. Falco ambuftus, the tawny eagle. Body pale tawny ; 
frontlet naked; cere large ; feet bluiflv. Bill fhort, thick, 
dark ; cere briftiy ; lower mandible bearded with a tuff 
of long fiender feathers; wing-coverts pale tawny mixed 
with brown; tail dirty-white, with brown bands ; claws 
long, (lightly curved. Inhabits Falkland ifiands; two 
feet and a half long. 
8. Falco Angolenlis, the Angola eagle. Body white ; 
cereb!ui(h ; orbits naked, crimfcn ; primary wung-coverts 
and bafe of the tail black. Bill whiifilh, long, a little 
hooked; irides draw-colour; tail white at the tip; feet 
dirty-w’hite, Italy ; crop protuberant ; head and neck 
clothed with feathers. Inhabits Angola. 
9. Falco barbatns, the bearded eagle. Whitifli fiery- 
red ; back brown ; a black (tripe above and beneath the 
eyes. Bill cinereous mixed with reddifh, furrounded at 
the Tides and underneath with black frift bridles, ftraight- 
iftt, hooked at the point, and furrowed on each fide ; nof- 
trils large, oval, briftiy ; quill-feathers twenty-eight, ci¬ 
nereous, (hining ; tail-feathers twelve, cinereous in the 
middle ; feet hairy down to the toes ; claws black, ftrong, 
a little curved. Inhabits the Alps, and the mountains of 
Perfia ; four feet long; builds in holes of inacceflible 
rocks ; preys on alpine quadrupeds, and will attack men 
when afleep ; flies in flocks. 
The golden vulture of Latham is Gmelin’s variety ( 3 . of 
this fpecies. It differs in being of a lefs fiery red, back 
black, quill and tail-feathers brown. It is the mod re¬ 
markable of the European birds of this tribe ; and in many 
particulars 
