Osprey or Fishing Hawk (Haliætus albicilla) is often mistaken for the golden eagle. The latter, however, can be easily recognized by its feathered legs. The osprey is widely distributed in the United States along the Atlantic coast, and is found all over Europe. It has its nest on the summits of inaccessible rocks and cliffs along the coasts, or in the top of a high tree, and rarely among the reeds. The osprey is a lazy but obstinate and dangerous robber, attacking all animals which it is able to overcome. Like the bald eagle, it catches fish; but it also feeds upon carrion.
Owls (Strigidæ) include more than one hundred species, all of which belong to two families. The Java owl, which ranges from the eastern Himalayas to Burma, Ceylon, Java and Borneo in itself constitutes the second of these families. They have large eyes, looking forward, encircled by stiff feathers, and with vertical pupil. Most are nocturnal and see poorly by day, but the Hawk Owl, and Snowy Owl of arctic regions, feed by day. Their food consists of rodents, insects, birds, vermin, and fish. The Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) attains a weight of eight pounds, and attacks poultry. Owls hear well; some have a well developed feathered external ear. The long ears by which the horned owl is known, refers to the horns of feathers, developed above the eyes. Owls fly noiselessly, owing to their soft plumage. The feet are usually feathered; the outer toe is reversible, and in the Fishing Owl the toes are osprey-like. The female is the larger. The size ranges from six inches in the Pygmy Owl of the tropical forests, to thirty inches in the Great Grey Owl of the northern regions. Reddish brown is predominant, but dark and light colors may be exhibited by a single brood. The eggs are spherical and pure white. Some species breed before the snow has gone, and their eggs hatch a few at a time. The Snowy Little Owl of Europe, is the symbol of learning. The Burrowing Owl lives in the burrows of prairie dogs in America, on whose young it feeds, in part while rattle-snakes associate with both as a common enemy.
The White or Barn Owl (Strix flammea) always lives in the neighborhood of man, building its nest in sheds, church-towers, old ruins, and also in pigeon-houses. It sleeps during the day. At night it flies through the gardens and fields, catching all kinds of mice, insects, and young birds. The nest is carelessly built, and in the spring contains from six to nine white, oval eggs.
Vultures (Vulturinæ) are large carrion-eating birds of prey. Those of the Old World differ from those in the New in several particulars; thus, the hind toe of the former is on the level with the other toes; the partition between the nostrils is not perforated as in American vultures; and they carry food to their young in their claws and not in their beaks. The chief of the American vultures are the Condor, Turkey Buzzard, Carrion-crow, or Black Vulture, and the King Vulture, which haunts jungles from Mexico to Paraguay, and is white, with the long tail and wing-feathers black, the head lemon and scarlet. Examples of the Old World vultures are the Bearded Vulture or Lammergeyer (Gypaetus barbatus), the largest bird of prey of Europe. It was formerly often seen in the Alps and Pyrenees; but is now, at least in the Swiss and Bavarian Alps, almost exterminated. It is a bold and dangerous robber, not only waylaying hares and roes, but also sheep and chamois; children even, have been attacked by this bird.
The Egyptian or White Vultures are known as Pharaoh’s Chickens. The crested Black Vulture ranges from China through North Africa. It builds large nests in trees on mountain-tops, where it rears a single young. The Griffon is black, with white tail and wing feathers. Vultures find their food by sight.
THE CLIMBING BIRDS
The toes of the climbing birds are arranged opposite each other in pairs; one of the back toes is, in many of these birds, so flexible that it can be easily turned forward. The claws are long, strong, and hooked, thus these birds can easily hold on firmly, even in a perpendicular position. Most of them frequent the woods, and live upon insects and fruit.
Cuckoo (Caculus canorus) is as large as a pigeon. It has a gently-curved, deeply-cleft beak, long, [212] pointed wings, and wedge-shaped, pointed tail. The outer toe can be directed forward as well as backward. American cuckoos hatch their own eggs. The Old World cuckoos are especially marked by the habit of leaving their eggs to be hatched by other birds. The spotted cuckoo of northern Europe lays four eggs in a nest, usually that of a crow. A small South African cuckoo, size of a sparrow is brilliantly colored. Australia has the large channel billed cuckoo, with its immense beak. The road-runner or chapparal cock of the desert plateaus of western United States feeds mainly on grasshoppers. In the West Indies and adjacent states is found the Ani, with high bill, and peculiar in that several females unite in building one nest, where all co-operate in hatching their eggs.
The cuckoo, with its never-wearied song, is the joyful harbinger of spring, and is heard with delight by old and young. It lives chiefly upon hairy caterpillars; and, as it is always feeding, we can justly include the cuckoo among the useful birds.
Parrots (Psittaci) are near relatives of the cockatoos, paroquets, macaws, lories, nestors, etc. The true parrots have the upper mandible toothed, and longer than high, and a short, rounded tail. These birds combine with the beauty of their plumage a nature of great docility, and have the faculty of imitating the human voice in a degree not possessed by other birds. They are found chiefly in Africa, from whence we get the gray parrot, the best talker. South America, which is particularly rich in species, furnishes the well-known green parrot; and North America is the home of a single species, the Carolina parrot. The parrots are forest birds, and are adepts at climbing, using for that purpose both the feet and the bill. Their food consists of seeds and fruits. They make their nests in holes, and lay white eggs, as is commonly the case where the eggs are concealed.