Reptiles and Birds / A Popular Account of Their Various Orders, With a Description of the Habits and Economy of the Most Interesting

by Louis Figuier

Diurnal Birds of Prey.

All that we previously remarked, when commencing the consideration of this order, as to the general characteristics which distinguish birds of prey, applies more particularly to the diurnal portion of them. We shall not repeat here what we have already stated, but only add a few words, in order the better to specify this division of the order.

The diurnal birds of prey have their eyes placed at the sides of the head, and the toes completely bare. They vary in size from that of the Sparrow-hawk, the spread of whose wings is scarcely twelve inches, to the Condor, which stretches its pinions over a space of four or five yards. They lay their eggs, which are generally of an oval shape, in rude nests called "aeries."

The Diurnal section of the Rapacious order is divided into three families: the Falcons (Falconidæ), the Vultures (Vulturidæ), and the Serpent-eaters (Gypogeranus).