Falcons.
The Falcon tribe have a very strong and comparatively short beak, which is generally curved from the base, with denticulated or scalloped edges; the head and neck covered with feathers; the talons very powerful, and furnished with retractile nails—not, indeed, in the same manner as cats, which have the power of withdrawing or sheathing theirs within the integuments, but by a conformation which gives the bird of prey the power of elevating its claws at pleasure.
These are the birds of prey par excellence. They feed for the most part on living animals; there are, however, some which, when other means of sustenance fail, devour putrefied flesh. Their flight is very rapid, and they ascend to immense altitudes in the sky. They are seldom to be seen on the ground; if they settle there it is but to seize their prey, which accomplished, they without delay take wing to their aerie. They lay, on an average, three or four eggs. Their plumage alters considerably during their early years; to such an extent, indeed, does this occur, that the young and the adult birds have often been taken for two distinct species. This fact has not a little contributed to confusing students of ornithology.
This family is a very numerous one, comprising no less than nine genera; namely, Eagles, Sea Eagles, Harpy Eagles, Caracara Eagles, Hawks, Goshawks, Kites, Harriers, and Buzzards.
The Eagle genus is characterised as follows:—The bill scalloped, but not toothed, and presenting a straight portion at the base; the nostrils elliptical and transverse; the tarsi short, and feathered down to the toes; the wings long; and the tail rounded.
Buffon has sketched a portrait of the Eagle, but his picture is by no means a model of accuracy:—
"The Eagles," he says, "both physically and morally, present several points of harmony with the Lion. In the first place, in strength, and consequently in an empire over other birds, as the Lion over beasts. In magnanimity; for he, too, disdains small creatures, and despises their insults. The Eagle will for a long time bear with the troublesome cries of the Crow and the Magpie ere he makes up his mind to punish them with death. Added to this, he covets no good things that he has not conquered for himself, and no other prey than that of his own catching. In temperance; for he scarcely ever eats the whole of his victim, and, like the Lion, leaves the bits and fragments for other creatures. However great may be his hunger, he will never feed upon dead carcasses. Again, like the Lion, he lives a solitary life, inhabiting a desert, into which he allows no other bird to enter, and in which he himself must be the sole hunter; for two pairs of Eagles in the same mountain district are, perhaps, a rarer sight than two families of Lions in the same part of a forest. They keep at a sufficient distance from one another, so that the space allotted to them should furnish each an ample subsistence; and the extent of their demesne is regulated by its productiveness. The Eagle has a flashing eye like the Lion, and is nearly of the same colour; has claws of a similar shape, a breath equally rank, and a cry equally frightful. Both seem as if they were made for combat and the pursuit of prey; both are alike inimical to companionship, alike ferocious, alike proud, and difficult to tame."
Buffon has much overrated the reputation of the Eagle; it will be well to reduce it to somewhat more just proportions. Agreeing with the immortal naturalist, we admit that the Eagle is endowed with no common amount of strength. With regard to its magnanimity, we must be allowed to entertain a doubt. As a matter of fact, the Eagle always attacks animals which are unable to resist it; if it disdains small birds, it is because they can easily evade its pursuit, and after all, there would be but little profit gained if they were caught. As to its moderation, it is easily proved to have no existence save in the imagination of the distinguished naturalist. On the contrary, the Eagle is voracious; it never leaves its prey until it is completely surfeited, and then only because it is unable to carry away the remainder to its aerie. So far from despising dead carcasses, it will readily feed upon them, even when it is not compelled by need, for it will gorge itself on carrion to such an extent that it frequently becomes incapable of avoiding its enemies. Its honesty, too, is a fact not better established, for the Fish Eagle pursues birds that are weaker than itself, and, in defiance of all justice, takes from them the booty which they have acquired through labour.
By a kind of rhetorical metaphor the Eagle has been proclaimed "the king of birds." If the possession of strength, and the abuse which is made of it, constitute the attributes of royalty, the Eagle has an unquestionable right to the title. But if with the kingly rank we connect the ideas of courage and nobility, it would never do to place the crown on the Eagle's head.
The ancients were inspired with a juster sentiment in making the Eagle the symbol of victory. The Assyrians, the Persians, and the Romans placed an Eagle with outspread wings on the top of their standards; and even in modern times we find a representation of this bird filling the same emblematic post in the armies of several European nations. Some, as Austria, instead of one Eagle, adopt two as their allusive emblazonry.