ing season, when they bring a vast quantity of prey to their young. Smith, in his history of kerry, relates, that a poor man in that country obtained a comfortable subsistence for his family, during a summer of famine, out of an eagle's nest, by robbing the eaglets of the food the old ones brought; whose attendance he protracted beyond the natural time, by clipping the wings and retarding the flight of the former. In order to extirpate these pernicious birds, there was formerly a law in the Orkney isles, which entitled every person that killed an eagle to a hen out of every house in the parish where it was killed. Eagles seem to give the preference to the carcases of dogs and cats. Those who formerly made it their business to kill these birds, fired the instant they alighted; for the eagle at that moment looks about before she begins to prey. Yet, quick as her sight may be, her sense of hearing seems still more exquisite. If hooded crows or ravens happen to be nearer the carrion, and resort to it first, and give a single croak, the eagle instantly repairs to the spot. These eagles are remarkable for their longevity, and for sustaining a long abstinence from food. Mr. Keysler relates, that an eagle died at Vienna after a confinement of 104 years. This length of days seems alluded to by the Psalmist, Thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.' One of this species, which was nine years in the possession of Owen Holland Esq. of Conway, lived thirty-two years with the gentleman who made him a present of it; but what its age was, when the latter received it, from Ireland, is unknown. The same bird also furnishes us with a proof of the truth of the other remark; having once, through the neglect of servants, endured hunger for twenty-one days without any sustenance whatever.-It is perhaps proper here to notice a very singular variety of the golden eagle, described by Mr. Bruce, in his travels in Abyssinia; for, whether it properly belongs to this species or not, we do not find that it has been as yet either arranged under any other, or ranked as a different genus. Mr. Bruce says, it is not only the largest of the eagle kind, but the largest bird that flies. By the natives it is vulgarly called abon duchen, or father long-beard. It is not an object of any chase, nor stands in need of any stratagem to bring it within reach. Upon the highest top of mount Lamalmon, while Mr. Bruce's servants were refreshing themselves after their toilsome ascent, and enjoying the pleasure of a most delightful climate, eating their dinner in the open air with several large dishes of boiled goat's flesh before them, this noble bird suddenly made its appearance; he did not stoop rapidly from a height, but came flying slowly along the ground, and sat down close to the meat within the ring the men had made round it. A great shout, or rather cry of distress, which they raised, made the bird stand for a minute as if to recollect himself, while the

servants ran for their lances and shields. His attention was fully fixed upon the flesh. He put his foot into the pan where was a large piece in water nearly boiling; but, feeling the smart, he withdrew it, and forsook the piece which he held. There were two large pieces, a leg and a shoulder, lying upon a wooden platter; into these he

trussed his claws and carried them off; skimming slowly along the ground as he had come, till he disappeared behind a cliff. But being observed at his departure to look wistfully at the large piece, which remained in the warm water, it was concluded that he would soon return; in expectation of which Mr. Bruce loaded a rifle gun with ball, and sat down close to the platter by the meat. It was not many minutes before le came, and a prodigious shout was raised by the attendants, 'He is coming, he is coming!' enough to have discouraged a less courageous animal. Whether it was not quite so hungry as at the first visit, or suspected something from Mr. Bruce's appearance, it made a small turn, and sat down about ten yards from him, the pan with the meat being between them. In this situation Mr. Bruce fired, and shot him with the ball through the middle of his body about two inches below the wing, so that he lay down upon the grass without a single flutter. Upon laying hold of his monstrous carcase, our author was not a little surprised at seeing his hands covered and tinged with yellow dust. Upon turning him upon his belly, and examining the feathers of his back, they produced a brown dust, the color of the feathers there. This dust was not in small quantities; for, upon striking his breast, the yellow powder flew in greater quantity than from a hair dresser's powder puff. The feathers of the belly and breast, which were of gold color, did not appear to have any thing extraordinary in their formation, but the large feathers in the shoulders and wings seemed apparently to be fine tubes, which upon pressure scattered this dust upon the finer part of the feather; but this was brown, the color of the feathers of the back. Upon the side of the wing, the ribs, or hard part of the feather, seemed to be bare as if worn, or, in our author's opinion, were rather renewing themselves, having before failed in their function. What is the reason of this extraordinary provision of nature, Mr. Bruce does not attempt to determine. But, as it is an unusual one, it is probably meant, he thinks, for a defence against the climate in favor of those birds, which live in those almost inaccessible heights of a country, doomed even in its lower parts to several months of excessive rain. This bird, from wing to wing, was eight feet four inches; from the tip of his tail to the point of his beak, when dead, four feet seven inches. He was remarkably short in the legs, being only four inches from the joining of the foot to where the leg joins the thigh, and from the joint of the thigh to the joining of his body six inches. The thickness of his thigh was little less than four inches; it was extremely muscular and covered with flesh. His middle claw was about two inches and a half long, not very sharp at the point, but extremely strong. From the root of the bill to the point was three inches and a quarter, and one inch and three-quarters in breadth at the root. A forked brush of strong hair, divided at the point into two, proceeded from the cavity of his lower jaw at the beginning of his throat. His eye was remarkably small in proportion to his bulk, the aperture being scarcely half an inch. The crown of his head, and the front where the bill and skull joined, were baid.

garments; the wings for brushes; the feet for amulets; but seldom eat the flesh, unless compelled by hunger.

6. F. aquila haliætos, the balbuzard of Buffon, the osprey of Pennant and Latham, or the fishing-hawk of Catesby, weighs three pounds and a quarter; it measures from one tip of the wing to the other five feet and a half, but is hardly two feet long. The bill is black, with a blue cere; the iris of the eye is yellow, and the crown of the head brown, with a mixture of white feathers; from each eye backwards runs a brown stripe; the back, wings, and tail, are of a dark brown; the throat, neck, and belly, white; the legs and feet are rough and scaly, and of a pale blue color; the talons are black, and nearly of an equal size; the feathers of the thighs, contrary to others of the hawk kind, are short, and adhere close to them, for the more easily penetrating the water. Notwithstanding this bird is so persecuted by the bald eagle, yet it always keeps near its haunts. It is very quick-sighted, and will see a fish near the surface from a great distance, descend with prodigious rapidity, and carry the prey with an exulting scream high into the air. Sometimes the bird perishes in taking its prey; for, if it chances to fix its talons in an overgrown fish, it is drawn under water before it can disengage itself, and is drowned.

7. F. aquila leucocephalus, the bald eagle of Catesby and Latham, and the white-headed eagle of Pennant, is ash-colored, with the head and tail white; the iris of the eye is white, over which is a prominence covered with a yellow skin; the bill and cere are yellow, as well as the legs and feet; and the talons are black. Though it is only three feet long, it weighs nine pounds, is strong and full of spirit, preying on lambs, pigs, and fawns. They always make their nests near the sea or great rivers, and usually upon old pine or cypress trees, continuing to build annually on the same tree till it falls Though he is so formidable to all birds, yet he suffers them to build near his nest without molestation; particularly the fishing-hawk, herons, &c., which all build on high trees. The nests are very large and very fetid by reason of the relics of their prey. Lawson says, they breed very often, laying again under their callow young; whose warmth hatches the eggs. In Bhering's Isle they make their nests on the cliffs nearly six feet wide and one thick; and lay two eggs in the beginning of July. This species inhabits Europe, but is more common in America. It feeds also on fish. This, however, it does not procure for itself; but, sitting in a convenient spot, watches the diving of the osprey in the water after a fish, which, the moment it has seized, the bald eagle follows close after, when the osprey is glad to escape by dropping the fish from his bill; and such is the dexterity of the eagle, that it often seizes the prey before it can fall to the ground. Catesby says, the male and female are much

alike.

8. F. aquila maculatus, the spotted eagle of Latham and Catesby, and crying eagle of Pennant, has a dusky bill and yellow cere; the color of the plumage is a ferruginous brown; the coverts of the wings and scapulars are elegantly

varied with oval white spots; the primaries dusky, the ends of the greater white; the breast and belly are of a deeper color than the rest of the plumage, streaked downwards with dull yellow; the tail is dark brown, tipped with dirty white; the legs are feathered to the feet, which are yellow. The length of the bird is two feet. This species is found in many parts of Europe, but not in Scandinavia; is frequent in Russia and Siberia; and extends even to Kamptschatka. It is less spirited than other eagles, and is perpetually making a plaintive noise; from which it was styled by the ancients planga; and anataria, from its preying on ducks, which Pliny describes with great elegance. Lib. x. c. 3. The Arabs used to train it for the chase; but its quarry was cranes and other birds; the more generous eagle being flown at antelopes and various quadrupeds. This species was itself an object of diversion, and made the prey of even so small a bird as the sparrow-hawk; which would pursue it with great eagerness, soar above, then fall on it, and, fastening with its talons, keep beating it about the head with its wings, till they both fell together to the ground. Sir John Chardin saw this practised about Tauris.

9. F. aquila milvus, the kite, is a native of Europe, Asia, and Africa. This species generally breeds in large forests or woody mountainous countries. Its nest is composed of sticks, lined with several odd materials, such as rags, bits of flannel, ropes, and paper. It lays two, or at most three eggs; which, like those of other birds of prey, are much rounded and blunt at the smaller end. They are white, spotted with dirty yellow. Its motion in the air distinguishes it from all other birds, being so smooth and even that it is scarce perceptible. Sometimes it will remain quite motionless for a considerable space; at others glide through the sky without the least apparent action of its wings; from thence deriving the old name of glede, from the Saxon glida. They inhabit the north of Europe, as high as Jarisberg, in the south of Norway; but do not extend farther. They quit Sweden in flocks at the approach of winter, and return in spring. Some of them winter about Astrakan, but the greater part are supposed to retire into Egypt, being seen in September passing by Constantinople in their way from the north; and again in April returning to Europe, to shun the great heats of the east. They are observed in vast numbers about Cairo, where they are extremely tame, and feed even on dates, probably for want of other food. They also breed there; so that, contrary to the nature of other rapacious birds, they increase and multiply twice in the year; once in the mild winters of Egypt, and a second time in the summers of the north. They appear in Greece in the spring. In Britain they are found the whole year. Lord Bacon observes, that when kites fly high, it portends fair and dry

weather. Kerr enumerates three varieties of this

species, viz. the Siberian, Russian, and Jaic kites.

10. F. aquila ossifragus, the osprey, or sea eagle, with yellow cere, and half-feathered legs; is about the size of a peacock; the feathers are white at the base, iron-colored in the

middle, and black at the points; and the legs are yellow. It is found in several parts of Great Britain and Ireland. Willoughby tells us, that there was an aery of them in Whinfield Park, Westmoreland; and the bird soaring in the air with a cat in its talons, which Barlow drew from the very fact which he saw in Scotland, is of this kind. The cat's resistance brought both animals to the ground, when Barlow took them up; and afterwards caused them to be engraved, as struggling, in the thirty-sixth plate of his Collection of Prints. Turner says, that in his days this bird was too well known in England; for it made terrible destruction among the fish. All authors indeed agree, that it feeds principally on fish, which it takes as they are swimming near the surface, by darting down upon them, not by diving or swimming, as some authors have pretended, who furnish it for that purpose with one webbed foot to swim with, and another divided foot to take its prey with. Martin, speaking of the great eagles of the Western Isles, says, that they fasten their talons in the back of the fish, commonly salmon, which are often above the water, or very near the surface. Those of Greenland will even take a young seal out of the water. It also preys on water-fowl. This species is frequent in North America, and was met with in Botany Island by captain Cook

11. F. aquila Peruvianus, or furcatus; the Peruvian kite, or swallow-tailed hawk, has a black bill, less hooked than usual with rapacious birds; the eyes are large and black, with a red iris; the head, neck, breast, and belly, are white; the upper part of the back and wings a dark purple; but more dusky towards the lower parts, with a tincture of green. The wings are long in proportion to the body, and, when extended, measure four feet. The tail is dark purple mixed with green, and remarkably forked. This most elegant species inhabits only the south parts of North America; and that only during summer. They feed chiefly flying; for they are much on wing, and prey on various sorts of insects. They also feed on lizards and serpents; and will kill the largest of them with the utmost ease. They quit North America before winter, and are supposed to retreat to Peru.

12. F. aquila Sinesis, the Chinese eagle, is one of the largest of the sub-genus. The cere and legs are yellow; the body is reddish brown above and yellowish beneath. The bill and claws are large and black; the irides brown; the crown dusky; the coverts and quill-feathers marked with a dusky band. It inhabits India

and China.

13. F. aquila tharus, the Chilese eagle, has a crest of black feathers on the head; legs and cere yellow; the body blackish white; feet scaly, with very strong claws. It is common in Chili; is about the size of a large capon, and feeds on dead carcases, like the bastard eagles. The female is smaller than the male, and grayish; and lays five eggs at a brood.

14. F. aquilinus, the aquiline falcon, or small American eagle, of Buffon, has yellow legs and cere; the upper parts blue; the under reddishwhite; the neck purplish-red; the sides of the head downy, and haraly covered with feathers;

eye-lids bristly; the orbits yellow; and irides orange colored; the bill blue, and claws black. The male is from sixteen to eighteen inches long; the female twenty-three. It inhabits South America.

15. F. buteo, the buzzard, is the most common of the hawk kind in England. It breeds in large woods, and usually builds on an old crow's nest, which it enlarges, and lines with wool and other soft materials. It lays two or three eggs, perfectly white, or spotted with yellow. The cock buzzard will hatch and bring up the young, if the hen is killed. The young keep company with the old ones for some time after they quit the nest; which is not usual with other birds of prey, who always drive away their brood as soon as they can fly. This bird is very sluggish and inactive, and is much less in motion than other hawks; remaining perched on the same bough for the greatest part of the day, and is found at most times near the same place. It feeds on birds, rabbits, moles, and mice; it will also eat frogs, earthworms, and insects. This species is subject to some variety in color. Some have their breast and belly of a brown color, and are only marked across the craw with a large white crescent; but usually the breast is of a yellowish white, spotted with oblong rust-colored spots, pointing downwards: the back of the head and neck, and coverts of the wings, are of a deep brown, edged with a pale rust-color; the middle of the back covered only with a thick white down. The tail is barred with black, and ashcolor, and sometimes with ferruginous.

16. F. cachinnans, the laughing falcon, has yellowish legs and cere, and white eye-brows; the body is variegated with brown and white; and it has a black ring round the top of the head. It makes a laughing kind of noise when it observes any person, and is a native of South America.

17. F. candicans, the white gyrfalcon of Pennant, has legs and cere of a bluish ash, the bill bluish, and greatly hooked; the eye dark blue; the throat of a pure white; the whole body, wings, and tail of the same color, most elegantly marked with dusky bars, lines, or spots, leaving the white the far prevailing color. There are instances, but rare, of its being found entirely white. In some the whole tail is crossed by remote bars of black or brown; in others, they appear only very faintly on the middle feathers: the feathers of the thighs are very long and unspotted: the legs strong, and of a light blue. Its weight is forty-five ounces Troy; length near two feet; extent four feet two inches. This species has the same manners and haunts with the Iceland falcon. It is very common in Iceland; is found in Lapland and Norway; but rarely in the Orkneys and North Britain. In Asia it dwells in the highest points of the Uralian and other Siberian mountains, and dares the coldest climates throughout the year. It is kept in the latitude of Petersburgh, uninjured in the open air during the severest winters. This bird is pre-eminent in courage as well as beauty, and is the terror of other hawks. It was flown at all kinds of fowl, how great soever, but its chief game was herons and cranes. This species, with

the Iceland and Greenland falcons are reserved for the kings of Denmark; who send their falconer with two attendants annually into Iceland to purchase them. They are caught by the natives, a certain number of whom in every district are licensed for that purpose. The falconer examines the birds, rejects those which are not for his purpose, and gives the seller a written certificate of the qualities of each, which entitles him to receive payment from the king's receivergeneral. They are taken in the following manner:-Two posts are fastened in the ground, near their haunts. To one is tied a ptarmigan, a pigeon, and a cock or hen, fastened to a cord, that it may flutter, and so attract the attention of the falcon. On the other post is placed a net, distended on a hoop, about six feet in diameter. Through this post is introduced a string, above 100 yards long, which is fastened to the net, in order to pull it down; and another is fastened to the upper part of the hoop, and goes through the post to which the bait is tied. As soon as the falcon sees the fowl flutter on the ground, he takes a few circles in the air, to see if there is any danger, then darts on his prey with such violence as to strike off the head, as nicely as if it was done with a razor. He then usually rises again, and takes another circle, to explore the place a second time; after which he makes another stoop, when, at the instant of his descending, the man pulls the dead bird under the net; and, by means of the other cord, covers the falcon with the net at the moment it has seized the prey; the person lying concealed behind some stones, or flat on his belly, to elude the sight of the falcon. As soon as one is caught, it is taken gently out of the net, for fear of breaking any of the feathers of the wings or tail: and a cap is placed over its eyes. If any of the tail feathers are injured, the falconers have the art of grafting others.

18. F. columbarius, the pigeon-hawk of Catesby, weighs about six ounces. The bill is black at the point, and whitish at the base: the iris of the eye is yellow; the base of the upper mandible is covered with a yellow wax; the upper parts of the body and wings are brown: the tail is brown, but has four white bars. The interior vanes of the quill feathers have large red spots. The tail is marked with large regular transverse white lines; the throat, breast, and belly, are white, mixed with brown; the small feathers that cover the thighs reach within half an inch of the feet, and are white, with a tincture of red beset with long spots of brown; the legs and feet are yellow. It inhabits America, from Hudson's Bay as low as South Carolina. In the last it attains to a larger size. In Hudson's Bay it appears in May on the banks of the Severn, breeds, and retires south in autumn. It feeds on small birds; and on the approach of any person flies in circles, and makes a great shrieking. It forms its nest in a rock, or some hollow tree, with sticks and grass, and lines it with feathers: and lays from two to four eggs, white, spotted with red. In Carolina it preys on pigeons, and young of wild turkeys.

the

19. F. gentilis, the gentle falcon, inhabits the worth of Scotland, and was in high esteem in the

days of falconry. It makes its nest in rocks: it is larger than the goshawk; the cere and legs are yellow, the head of a light rust color, with black streaks; the whole upper side from chin to tail white, with dusky heart-shaped spots: the back of a brown color; the tail barred with four or five bars of black, and as many of ashcolor; the tips of all the tail feathers white.

20. F. gypætus albicilla, the cinereous bastard eagle, is inferior in size to the golden eagle; the head and neck are of a pale ash color; the body and wings cinereous, clouded with brown; the quill feathers very dark: the tail white; the legs feathered but little below the knees, and of a very bright yellow. The male is of a darker color than the female. The bill of this species is rather straighter than usual, which seems to have induced Linnæus to rank it among the vultures. But Pennant observes, that it can have no title to be ranked with that genus, the characteristical mark of which is, that the head and neck are either quite bare, or only covered with down; whereas this bird is wholly feathered. This species is in size equal to the black eagle, and inhabits Europe as high as Iceland and Lapland, and particularly the north of Scotland. It is common in Greenland, but does not extend to America; or according to Pennant, if it does, it varies into the white-headed eagle, to which it has great affinity, particularly in its feeding much on fish; the Danes therefore call it fiskeorn. It is common in the south of Russia, and about the Volga, as far as trees will grow; but is very scarce in Siberia. It inhabits Greenland the whole year, sitting on the rocks with flagging wing, and flies slowly. It makes its nest on the lofty cliffs, with twigs, lining the middle with mosses and feathers: lays two eggs, and sits in the end of May, or beginning of June. These birds prey on young seals, which they seize while floating on the water; but oftentimes, by fixing their talons in an old one, they are overmatched, and drawn down to the bottom, screaming horribly. They feed also on fish, especially the lump-fish, and a sort of trout: on ptarmigans, auks, and eider ducks. They sit on the top of rocks, attentive to the motion of the diving-birds; and with quick eyes observe their course by the bubbles which rise to the surface of the water, and catch the fowls as they rise for breath. The Greenlanders use their skins for clothing next to their bodies; eat the flesh, and keep the bill and feet for amulets. They kill them with the bow, or take them in nets placed in the snow properly baited; or tempt them by the fat of seals, which the eagles cat to an excess, and which occasions such a torpidity as to make them an easy prey. In Scotland and the Orkneys they feed on land animals as well as fish.

21. F. gypætus barbatus, the bearded bastard eagle, or bearded vulture of Linnæus, is of a whitish fiery-red color, brown on the back, with a black stripe above and below each eye. It inhabits the Alps, is four feet long, and ten feet in extent; the bill is of an ash color, mixed with reddish; fringed at the sides and below with stiff black bristles. The wings have twenty-eight bright ash-colored quill feathers, and the tail twelve. This species build their nests in the caverns of