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Show 228 AVES. longitudinal nostrils, but no fleshy crest ; their head and neck are without feath.ers.. Sh . Tern Col. 31. (The Vulture of Califor- V californwnus, ., · . . m. a )· Approac h es the Condor in size, .b ut lts wmgs are pro- 1 b . . bly longer. the plumage is entire y rown. portiOna L E 1, 187. Viellot Am. Sept. 2 and Galer. 4. V aura ., n • ' ' . (The· 1, urk' ey B uzzarc1. ) Black '• tail cuneiform ; as large as a cock. See .!Jpp. XII of ./Jm. Ed. PERCNOPTERUS, ( 1) C uv. -GY;xP AETOS ' Bechstein·.-NEoPHRoN, Savig. . h e a slender long beak, slightly inflated above The Percnopterl av ' d h h d b •1 val and longitudinal, au t e ea , ut its curvature; ~he n;;t~f s f~athers. They are birds of a moderate not the neck, dflvest d as to strength, from the true Vultures ; size and very ar remove ' . ffil h thus' they fall more f ur1. ous ly upon carrion and oth. er s.p eciers od t , f f • they do not even disdam to 1ee upon which atttractTthheemy w:~: :o:p' rehended by Illiger, along with the excremen. Preceding among his CATHARTES. G ' t L . V. leucocephalus and V. fuscus, m. Vult. percnop erus, . ' . 1 3. Vult de Enl. 407 and 429; Vieillot, Galer. 2; .Naum. p. ' . G' Pi Sonn. 'and Daud.; Origourap, Vall1. Afr. 14; Rachamuh, Brtunoc e' • Pharaoh's Bird, .m Egypt. A s 1a rge as a crow·' thr.o at nd c;eeks naked ; the adult male white, quil.ls o_f th.e wmgds ba lack. the young and the r. ema1 e , b rown. Th1s b1r.d 1s fou. n throug' hout the whole of the eastern contm' en t ' an d lS partlCU· larly common in warm countri. es, w h ere I· t is an excellent sea· venger purifying them f rom carn.o n, &c • It fol1ow.s theE c ara· vans i~ the desert to deyour all that dies. The ancientd gytp· f h ices it ren ers 0 tians held it in respect on account o t e serv t the country and frequently scu Ip ture d 1't 011 their monumd en. 5' Even at the' present day it is exempt f rom m• J•u ry, an p!OU· S Mussulmen sometimes bequeath sums of money for the mam· tenance df a certain number. Th Urubu.) V. jota, Bonap.; Vieillot, Am. Sept. pl. 1• ( e . the Of the size and form o f t h e prece d ·m g ; the beak strondg erC' om· whole body of a brilliant black; the entire head n.ake · h re it mon in all the hot and temperate part s 0 f America, w e . . flocking renders similar services as the Percnopterus m Egypt c' ) round dead bodies, and consum·m g every kind of filth. 2 . amongthe (1) Percnopterus, black wings, the name of th.e Egypti:m species, ancients. a but its beak (2) This bird has been confounded r1 01' a 1o ng t'1 me with the aur • is much more slender. Add the Catharte moine, Pl. Col. 222. ACCIPITRES. 229 GYPAETos, Storr.-PIIENE, Savigny. The Griffins, placed by Gmelin in the genus Falco,· are more nearly allied to the Vultures in their habits and conformation. ; their eyes are even with the head ; their talons proportionably weak; wings half extended when at rest; the crop, when full, projecting at the bottom of the neck; but their head is completely covered with feathet•s. Their distinguishing characters consist in a very strong, straight beak, hooked at the end, and inflated on the curve; nostrils covered by stiff hairs, directed forwards, and a pencil of similar ones under the beak ; their tarsi short and feathered to the toes ; their wings long, the third quill being the longest. Pult. barbm-us and Falco barbatus, Gm. PI. Col. 431 ; Edw. 106; Vieillot, Gal. pl. 8 ; Nauman, pl. 4 and 5; Nisser of Bl'Uce, Abyss. pl. 31. (The Lremmer-geyer.) The largest bird of prey belonging to the eastern continent, inhabiting the high chains of mountains, but not very common. It builds its nest on inaccessible acclivities, attacks Iambs, goats, the chamois, and, as it is said, even man, when it finds him asleep; it is asserted that children have been carried away by it. Its usual mode of attack is to force its prey from some precipice, which it then devours, being killed and mangled by the fall. It does not, however, reject dead bodies Its length is nearly four feet, the distance from the tip of one wing to that of the other being from nine to ten. The mantle is blackish, with a white line on the middle of each feather ; the neck, and all the under part of the body are of a light and brilliant fawn-colour; a black band surrounds the head. The neck and breast of the young, until the fourth year inclusive, are of a brown colour, more or less deep. This bird is the Pkene of the Greeks, and the Osaifraga of the Latins.( 1) FALco, Lin. The Falcons form the second, and by far most numerous division of the diurnal birds of prey. Their head and neck are covered with feathers; their eye-brows project, which occasions the eye to appear sunk, and gives to their physiognomy a character very different from that of the Vultures : the greater number prey on living animals, but they differ in the courage with which they pursue it. Their first plumage is often very differently coloured from that of the adult, (1) 8atJigny, Ois. d'Egyp. et de Syrie, p. 18, in the great work on Egypt, was the first who firmly established this synonyme. |
