Fig. 36.–Bewick's Swan. Cygnus bewicki. × ⅒.
Fossil remains of this group are found throughout the Miocene of France, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy, referred to Anser and Anas, with Chenornis graculoïdes; the Pliocene of Oregon has furnished Branta, Cygnus, and Anser, that of Italy Anas and Fuligula; the Plistocene of Malta Cygnus and Palaeocycnus, that of Brazil Chenalopex. The superficial deposits of New Zealand contain Cnemiornis, mentioned above, as well as Chenopis and Biziura; the Queensland drifts the last-named, and, it is said, Anas, Dendrocycna, and Nyroca; the Mare aux Songes of Mauritius Anas and Sarcidiornis. Centrornis majori is a remarkable form from Central Madagascar, found at a depth of twelve to fifteen feet with another species Chenalopex sirabensis.[[121]]
Order VII. FALCONIFORMES.
Next to the aquatic Anseriformes may be placed the large and important terrestrial Order Falconiformes, with its Sub-Orders Cathartae and Accipitres. The former contains the New-World Vultures (Cathartidae or Sarcorhamphidae), possessing striking differences of structure from their allies;[[122]] the latter, the Secretary-Bird (Serpentariidae), the Old-World Vultures (Vulturidae), the Carrion-Hawks, Hawks, Eagles, Falcons and their kin (Falconidae), and the Ospreys (Pandionidae). All agree in the strong "raptorial" bill with basal cere, the U-shaped furcula, the large crop, the carnivorous habits, the great powers of flight, the superior size of the female, and the long nest-occupation of the young; but the Cathartae differ in having pervious nostrils, no syringeal muscles, less flattened metatarsi, and so forth.
Fam. I. Cathartidae.–These Vultures range from tropical to temperate America, and are often of immense size; the bill is strong, hooked, but blunt; the feet are clumsy with small scales; the scutellated toes, of which the mid-digit is longest and the hallux somewhat elevated, are unfit for grasping; the claws are obtuse and little curved. The ample wings have eleven primaries and from twelve to twenty-five secondaries; the moderate tail is even or rounded, with twelve rectrices, or fourteen in Pseudogryphus. The head and long neck are commonly bare, but the latter may be covered with stubbly down, which in Gyparchus papa extends to the occiput; the naked skin is often brightly coloured and accompanied by caruncles, while the crop is bare in Sarcorhamphus and Gyparchus. The eyes are prominent, the cere is horny and sometimes very long, the tongue thick and fleshy, the aftershaft absent. The sexes are alike in plumage, with evenly distributed down, and the nestlings soon develop a white or rufous covering.
Though, generally speaking, predaceous, the members of this Family only attack disabled animals, or often act chiefly as scavengers, whence the smaller forms are commonly found near the abodes of man and even in towns. The larger species sail high above the earth with easy, long-sustained, and majestic flight, accompanied by little movement of the pinions, as they circle over the plains or mountain-sides in search of prey. In this quest experiments have shewn that they are little guided by smell; rather does some individual, aided by its marvellously keen sight, spy the carrion from afar, its motives being instantly divined by its immediate neighbour; a third bird is next attracted; and so the tidings spread, until a greedy crowd meets to dismember the carcass, to fight over the morsels, and then to sit stupid and gorged, with drooping wings, on or near the ground. Except when feeding, the Cathartidae are non-gregarious, though "Turkey-Buzzards" and "Black Vultures" roost in company; the latter are said to take to the wing with ease, eschewing the preliminary hops of their allies; while all walk well. The voice is a hoarse sound or hiss, owing to the absence of syringeal muscles. The nest of sticks is placed in trees, cavities of rocks, hollow stumps, or on the ground, and may be bulky or of the slightest description; the one or two eggs are white, buff, or greenish, with or without reddish-brown and grey blotches. The parents regurgitate food–at least occasionally–for the nestlings, and eject foul-smelling matter when disturbed.
Sarcorhamphus gryphus, the Condor, only equalled in size among birds that fly by a few Old-World Vultures, and appearing still larger in clear mountain air, ranges down western South America and up to the Rio Negro on the east of Patagonia. The head and neck are bare, with dull red skin, wrinkled in folds on the latter; while an oblique ruff of white down surmounts the black plumage, which shews white edges to the wing-coverts and secondaries. The male has a fleshy crest extending from the mid-cere to the crown, a large wattle on the throat, and a small caruncle below; the irides being in that sex brown, in the female garnet-red. The bill is white with brown base. Smaller and browner examples occur in Ecuador, but larger appendages mark those of Chili and Patagonia. In the southern portion of their range Condors are found down to the sea-level, but Mr. E. Whymper[[123]] states that in Ecuador they frequent the Andes up to sixteen thousand feet, and rarely descend to the plains. Stupid and voracious, they can be lassoed while feeding, and, though they will attack old horses, calves, lambs, goats, deer, and dogs, especially when dazzled by the sun, they seldom risk an assault on mankind. The nest, of a few sticks, is placed on steep cliffs, and contains two white eggs.
Fig. 37.–Condor. Sarcorhamphus gryphus ♀. × ⅛-⅑.
A young bird was hatched in London after fifty-four days' incubation, but apparently nearly a year is taken to gain full powers of flight. Gyparchus papa, the King Vulture, of tropical America, save the West Indies, has a small fleshy crest on the cere in both sexes, but no wattles, though the skin of the sides of the head is wrinkled; the occiput is hairy, and a ruff of broad plumbeous feathers surrounds the neck. The rump, tail, and most of the wings are black; the remaining plumage being creamy white, the bare throat and back of the neck yellow, the skin of the head and neck elsewhere orange and red with blue patches near the ears, the bill orange and black, the irides white. This bird haunts woods near rivers and marshes, especially towards the coast, and feeds on snakes and carrion, from which it drives all other species; in flight, habit of gorging, and eggs, it resembles the Condor. Little smaller is the Californian Vulture (Pseudogryphus californianus), formerly extending to the Fraser River in British Columbia, in which the long flat head and neck are bare, smooth, and orange-coloured, the bill being whitish and the irides carmine. The plumage is dull black with a whitish wing-band, due to the margins of the greater coverts and secondaries; lanceolate feathers form a basal ruff round the neck, and extend over the lower parts. The habits are similar to those of the foregoing, but the loose nest of sticks, placed in cavities of trees or crags, contains one rough greenish-white egg. The genus Rhinogryphus or Cathartes ("Turkey-Buzzard") includes R. aura, of temperate and tropical America, reaching to Tierra del Fuego and the Falklands, in which the head and upper neck are naked, smooth, and crimson; and R. burrovianus, found from Mexico to Brazil, where they are orange and the nape is feathered; the yellow-headed R. perniger, of Amazonia, being hardly separable. All are black with whitish bill, red irides, and a tuft of bristles in front of the eye; but the first has brown-margined feathers and metallic sheen above. In common with Catharista, they have the cere very long. During the day-time these quarrelsome scavengers, ubiquitous but necessary, haunt the house-tops and roadways of towns and villages, whence they retire at night to groves or forests in company; otherwise their habits are those of Vultures generally. They have been said to pair for life, while they deposit two whitish eggs with red-brown and lilac markings in some hollow of a crag, tree, or log, often on or near the ground, adding little, if any, bedding. Catharista atratus, the "Carrion Crow" or Black Vulture, which ranges from Argentina and Chili to the West Indies and Carolina, and occasionally further north, is most plentiful near the coast; the fearless demeanour, flight, manner of feeding, nesting habits and eggs, resembling those of Turkey-Buzzards, though the wing-action is more laboured, and the gait shuffling. Audubon says that the males strut and gesticulate like Turkeys when courting, while incubation lasts about three weeks. The colour is black, the naked head being dusky and the upper neck somewhat corrugated; the bill is blackish with light tip, the irides are brown.