Be this as it may, there is no doubt that Harpies are endowed with extraordinary strength. D'Orbigny relates that at the time of an exploring expedition on the banks of the Rio Securia, in Bolivia, he met with a Harpy of large size. The Indians who accompanied him pursued it, pierced it with two arrows, and gave it numerous blows on the head. At length, thinking it was dead, they plucked off the greater part of its feathers, and even the down also, placing it afterwards in their canoe. What was the surprise of the naturalist when the bird recovered from its stupefaction, darted upon him, and burying its claws in his arm, inflicted most dangerous wounds! The interference of the Indians was necessary in order to rid him of his antagonist.
Fig. 284.—The Harpy (Harpyia destructor, Cuv.).
The Harpy inhabits the great forests of South America situated on the banks of the rivers. Its food consists of agoutis, fawns, sloths, and especially monkeys.
The Indians, who highly estimate warlike qualities, hold this bird in great respect, and consider it most valuable. Its tail and wing feathers they use to adorn themselves with on state occasions.
The White-bellied Eagle (Cuncuma leucogaster), so called because its plumage is white underneath, has points of similarity to the Eagle, the Sea Eagle, and the River Osprey. It is two feet in height, and its spread of wings is five feet. It is very common all over Europe, and is only too well known to the villagers on whose poultry-yards it frequently leaves heavy tax. It also feeds on moles, field-mice, reptiles, adders, and sometimes insects. It bears captivity very well. Buffon reared one which became tolerably familiar, but never showed the least affection for those who tended it.
Falcons (from falx, a reaping-hook) are marvellously organised for rapine, and realise the ideal of a bird of prey. They have a short bill, bent from the base, with a very strong tooth on each side of the upper mandible, with which an indentation corresponds in the lower portion. The wings of this bird are long and pointed, causing its flight to be at once powerful, rapid, and agile. Its tarsi are short, and its claws hooked and sharp. When we add to all this a most penetrating vision and enormous strength, it will easily be understood that these birds inspire terror wherever they go. They feed only on living prey—birds or small mammals—which they often instantaneously kill and carry off to eat elsewhere. They always hunt on the wing. They assemble in flocks at the time of migration to follow the birds of passage. At other times they live in solitary couples, and build their nest, according to the locality, in woods, cliffs, holes in quarries, or in ruined habitations, and sometimes even in the interior of towns. They lay from two to four eggs.
We shall divide the Falcon genus into two groups: Gyrfalcons, characterised by tails longer than their wings; and Falcons proper, which have the wings as long, and sometimes longer, than the tail.
The group of Gyrfalcons, or Jerfalcons, comprehends the Gyrfalcon proper, the Lanner Falcon (Falco lannarius), and the Sacred Falcon.
The Egyptians venerated the Falcon, and to this circumstance the name of Gyrfalcon must be attributed, as it is a corruption of Hierofalco, or Sacred Falcon.