in ornithology, a genus belonging to the order of accipitres, the characters of which are these: The beak is crooked, and furnished with wax at the base; the head is thick-set with feathers, and the tongue is cloven. The eagle and hawk form this genus.
1. The leucocephalus, bald, or white-headed eagle of Cateby, is ash-coloured, with the head and tail white; the iris of the eye is white, over which is a prominence covered with a yellow skin; the bill and the cere or wax are yellow, as are likewise the legs and feet; and the talons are black. Though it is an eagle of small size, it weighs nine pounds, is strong and full of spirit, preying on lambs, pigs, and fawns. They always make their nests near the sea or great rivers, and usually upon old dead pine or cypress trees, continuing to build annually on the same tree till it falls. Though he is so formidable to all birds, yet he suffers them to build near his royal nest without molestation; particularly the fishing hawk, herons, &c., which all build on high trees, and in some places are so near one another, that they appear like a rookery. The nests are very large and very solid by reason of the relics of their prey. Lawson says they breed very often, laying again under their callow young; whose warmth hatches the eggs. In Bering's Isle they make their nests on the cliffs near six feet wide and one thick; and lay two eggs in the beginning of July. This species inhabits both Europe and America; but is more common in the latter. Besides flesh, it feeds also on fish. This, however, it does not procure for itself; but sitting in a convenient spot, watches the diving of the osprey into the water after a fish, which the moment it has seized the bald eagle follows close after, when the osprey is glad to escape by dropping the fish from his bill; and such is the dexterity of the former, that it often seizes the prey before it can fall to the ground. Cateby says the male and female are much alike.
2. The offiragus, or sea-eagle, with yellow wax, and half-feathered legs; it is about the size of a peacock; the feathers are white at the base, iron-coloured in the middle, and black at the points; and the legs are yellow. It is found in several parts of Great Britain and Ireland. Mr Willoughby tells us, that there was an eagery of them in Whinfell Park, Westmoreland; and the bird soaring in the air with a cat in its talons (which Barlow drew from the very fact which he saw in Scotland), is of this kind. The cat's resistance brought both animals to the ground, when Barlow took them up; and afterwards caused the event to be engraved in the 36th plate of his Collection of Prints. Turner says, that in his days this bird was too well known in England; for it made horrible destruction among the fish. All authors indeed agree, that it feeds principally on fish, which it takes as they are swimming near the surface, by darting itself down upon them; not by diving or swimming, as some authors have pretended, who furnish it for that purpose with one webbed foot to swim with, and another divided foot to take its prey with. Martin, speaking of what he calls the great eagles of the Western Isles, says, that they fasten their talons in the back of the fish, commonly of salmon, which are often above the water, or very near the surface. Those of Greenland will even take a young seal out of the water. Turner, above mentioned, says, that the fishermen were fond of anointing their baits with the fat of this bird, imagining that it had a peculiar alluring quality: they were even superstitious enough to believe, that whenever the sea-eagle hovered over a piece of water, the fish (as if charmed) would rise to the surface with their bellies upwards; and in that manner present themselves to him. It also preys on water fowl. This species is also frequent in North America, and was also met with in Botany Island by Captain Cooke.
3. The chrysaetos, or golden eagle, weighs about 12 pounds and is in length about three feet, the wings when extended measuring about seven feet four inches. The flight and sense of smelling are very acute: the head and neck are clothed with narrow, sharp-pointed feathers, of a deep brown colour bordered with tawny; the hind part of the head in particular is of a bright ruf colour. These birds are very destructive to fawns, lambs, kids, and all kinds of game; particularly in the breeding season, when they bring a vast quantity. city of prey to their young. Smith, in his History of Kerry, relates, that a poor man in that country got a comfortable subsistence for his family, during a summer of famine, out of an eagle's nest, by robbing the eaglets of the food the old ones brought; whose attendance he protracted beyond the natural time, by clipping the wings and retarding the flight of the former. It is very unsafe to leave infants in places where eagles frequent; there being instances in Scotland of two being carried off by them; but, fortunately, the theft was discovered in time, and the children were restored unhurt out of the eagles' nests. In order to extirpate these pernicious birds, there is a law in the Orkney isles, which intitles every person that kills an eagle to a hen out of every house in the parish where it was killed. Eagles seem to give the preference to the carcases of dogs and cats. People who make it their business to kill those birds, lay one or other of these carcases by way of bait; and then conceal themselves within gunshot. They fire the instant the eagle alights; for she, that moment, looks about before she begins to prey. Yet, quick as her sight may be, her sense of hearing seems still more exquisite. If hooded crows or ravens happen to be nearer the carrion, and resort to it first, and give a single croak, the eagle is certain of instantly repairing to the spot.
Eagles are remarkable for their longevity, and for their power of sustaining a long abstinence from food. Mr Keyser relates, that an eagle died at Vienna after a confinement of 104 years. This pre-eminent length of days probably gave occasion to the saying of the Psalmist, "Thy youth is renewed like the eagle's." One of this species, which was nine years in the possession of Owen Holland, Esq; of Conway, lived 32 years with the gentleman who made him a present of it; but what its age was when the latter received it from Ireland is unknown. The same bird also furnishes us with a proof of the truth of the other remark; having once, through the neglect of servants, endured hunger for 21 days without any sustenance whatever.
4. The fulvus, or white-tailed eagle of Edwards, has the whole plumage of a dusky brown: the breast marked with triangular spots of white, but which are wanting in the British kind: the tail is white, tipped with black; but in young birds dusky, blotched with white: the legs are covered to the toes with soft rufous-coloured feathers. These birds inhabit Hudson's Bay and northern Europe as far as Drontheim. They are found on the highest rocks of the Uralian chain, where it is not covered with wood; but are most frequent on the Siberian, where they make their nests on the loftiest rocks. They are rather inferior in size to the sea-eagle; but are generous, spirited, and docile. The independent Tartars train them for the chase of hares, foxes, antelopes, and even wolves. The use is of considerable antiquity; for Marco Polo, the great traveller of 1269, observed and admired the diversion of the great chaim of Tartary; who had several eagles, which were applied to the same purposes as they are at present. The Tartars also esteem the feathers of the tail as the best they have for pluming their arrows. This species is frequent in Scotland; where it is called the black eagle, from the dark colour of its plumage. It is very destructive to deer, which it will seize between the horns; and by incessantly beating it about the eyes with its wings, soon makes a prey of the harassed animal. The eagles in the isle of Rum have nearly extirpated the flags that used to abound there. They generally build in clefts of rocks near the deer-forests; and make great havoc not only among them, but also among the white hares and ptarmigans. Mr Willoughby gives the following curious account of the nest of this species. "In the year of our Lord 1668, in the woodlands near the river Darwent, in the peak of Derbyshire, was found an eagle's nest made of great sticks, resting one end on the edge of a rock, the other on two birch trees; upon which was a layer of rushes, and over them a layer of heath, and upon the heath rushes again; upon which lay one young one and an addle egg; and by them a lamb, a hare, and three heath poults. The nest was about two yards square, and had no hollow in it. The young eagle was black as a hobby, of the shape of a goshawk, almost of the weight of a goose, rough-footed, or feathered down to the foot; having a white ring about the tail."
5. The cyaneus, or hen-harrier, with white wax, yellow legs, a whitish blue body, and a white ring round the eyes and throat. It is the blue hawk of Edwards, and is a native of Europe and Africa. These birds are extremely destructive to young poultry and to the feathered game: they fly near the ground, skimming the surface in search of prey. They breed on the ground, and never are observed to settle on trees.
6. The abbiulla, or cinereous eagle, is inferior in size to the golden eagle; the head and neck are of a pale ash-colour; the body and wings cinereous, clouded with brown; the quill-feathers very dark; the tail white; the legs feathered but little below the knees, and of a very bright yellow. The male is of a darker colour than the female. The bill of this species is rather straighter than is usual in the eagle; which seems to have induced Linnaeus to place it among the vultures. But Mr Pennant observes, that it can have no title to be ranked with that genus, the characteristic mark of which is, that the head and neck are either quite bare, or only covered with down; whereas this bird is wholly feathered. This species is in size equal to the black eagle, and inhabits Europe as high as Iceland and Lapmark. It is common in Greenland, but does not extend to America; or, according to Mr Pennant, if it does, it varies into the white-headed eagle, to which it has great affinity, particularly in its feeding much on fish; the Danes therefore call it Fjækorn. It is common in the south of Russia, and about the Volga, as far as trees will grow; but is very scarce in Siberia. It inhabits Greenland the whole year, fitting on the rocks with flagging wing, and flies slowly. It makes its nest on the lofty cliffs, with twigs, lining the middle with mosses and feathers; lays two eggs; and sits in the latter end of May or beginning of June. These birds prey on young seals, which they seize as they are floating on the water; but oftentimes, by fixing their talons in an old one, they are overmatched, and drawn down to the bottom, screaming horribly. They feed also on fish, especially the lumpfish, and a sort of trout; on ptarmigans, auk, and eider-ducks. They sit on the top of rocks, attentive to the motion of the diving birds; and with quick eyes observe their course by the bubbles which rise to the surface of the water, and catch the fowls as they rise for for breath. The Greenlanders use their skins for cloathing next to their bodies; eat the flesh; and keep the bill and feet for amulets. They kill them with the bow; or take them in nets placed in the snow properly baited; or tempt them by the fat of seals, which the eagles eat to an excess; which occasions such a torpidity as to make them an easy prey. They are common in Scotland and the Orkneys; where they feed on fish, as well as on land animals.
7. The crying eagle (Arct. Zool. p. 215.), with a dusky bill and yellow cere; the colour of the plumage is a ferruginous brown; the coverts of the wings and scapulars are elegantly varied with oval white spots; the primaries dusky, the ends of the greater white; the breast and belly are of a deeper colour than the rest of the plumage, streaked downwards with dull yellow; the tail is dark brown, tipped with dirty white; the legs are feathered to the feet, which are yellow. The length of the bird is two feet.—This species is found in many parts of Europe, but not in Scandinavia; is frequent in Russia and Siberia; and extends even to Kamtchatka. It is less generous and spirited than other eagles, and is perpetually making a plaintive noise; from which it was styled by the ancients *Arift Hipplanga & clanga*; and anataria, from its preying on ducks, which Pliny† describes with great elegance.
The Arabs used to train it for the chase; but its quarry was cranes and other birds; the more generous eagle being flown at antelopes and various quadrupeds. This species was itself an object of diversion, and made the game of even so small a falcon as the sparrow hawk; which would pursue it with great eagerness, soar above, then fall on it, and fastening with its talons, keep beating it about the head with its wings, till they both fell together to the ground. This Sir John Chardin has seen practised about Tauris.
8. The milvus, or kite, is a native of Europe, Asia, and Africa. This species generally breeds in large forests or woody mountainous countries. Its nest is composed of sticks, lined with several odd materials, such as rags, bits of flannel, rope, and paper. It lays two, or at most three, eggs; which, like those of other birds of prey, are much rounded and blunt at the smaller end. They are white, spotted with dirty yellow. Its motion in the air distinguishes it from all other birds, being so smooth and even that it is scarcely perceptible. Sometimes it will remain quite motionless for a considerable space; at others glide through the sky without the least apparent action of its wings; from thence deriving the old name of glead or glede, from the Saxon glida. They inhabit the north of Europe, as high as Jutland, in the very south of Norway; but do not extend farther. They quit Sweden in flocks at the approach of winter, and return in spring. Some of them winter about Astrakan, in lat. 46° 30′; but the far greater part are supposed to retire into Egypt, being seen in September passing by Constantinople in their way from the north; and again in April returning to Europe, to shun the great heats of the east. They are observed in vast numbers about Cairo, where they are extremely tame, and feed even on dates, probably for want of other food. They also breed there; so that, contrary to the nature of other rapacious birds, they increase and multiply twice in the year; once in the mild winters of Egypt, and a second time in the summers of the north. It makes its appearance in Greece in the spring; and in the early ages, says Aristophanes, “it governed that country; and men fell on their knees when they were first blest with the sight of it, because it pronounced the flight of winter, and told them to begin to shear their vernal fleeces.” In Britain they are found the whole year. Lord Bacon observes, that when kites fly high, it portends fair and dry weather.
9. The gentilis, or gentil falcon, inhabits the north of Scotland, and was in high esteem as a bold and spirited bird in the days of falconry. It makes its nest in rocks; it is larger than the goshawk; the head of a light rust colour, with oblong black spots; the whole under side from chin to tail white, tinged with yellow; the back of a brown colour; the tail barred with four or five bars of black, and as many of ash-colour; the very tips of all the tail-feathers white.
10. The subbuteo, or hobby, was used like the kestrel in the humbler kind of falconry; particularly in what was called daring of larks; the hawk was cast off; the larks, aware of their most inveterate enemy, were fixed to the ground for fear; by which means they became a ready prey to the fowler, by drawing a net over them. The back of this bird is brown; the nape of the neck white; and the belly pale, with oblong brown spots. It is a bird of passage; but breeds in Britain, and migrates in October.
11. The buteo, or buzzard, is the most common of the hawk kind in England. It breeds in large woods; and usually builds on an old crow’s nest, which it enlarges, and lines with wool and other soft materials. It lays two or three eggs, which are sometimes perfectly white, sometimes spotted with yellow. The cock buzzard will hatch and bring up the young if the hen is killed. The young keep company with the old ones for some little time after they quit the nest; which is not usual with other birds of prey, who always drive away their brood as soon as they can fly. This species is very sluggish and inactive, and is much less in motion than other hawks; remaining perched on the same bough for the greatest part of the day, and is found at most times near the same place. It feeds on birds, rabbits, moles, and mice; it will also eat frogs, earthworms, and insects. This bird is subject to some variety in its colour. Some have their breast and belly of a brown colour, and are only marked across the craw with a large white crescent; but usually the breast is of a yellowish white, spotted with oblong rust-coloured spots, pointing downwards: the back of the head, neck, and coverts of the wings, are of a deep brown, edged with a pale rust-colour: the middle of the back covered only with a thick white down. The tail is barred with black, and ash-colour, and sometimes with ferruginous.
12. The tinnunculus, or kestrel, breeds in the hollows of trees, in the holes of high rocks, towers, and ruined buildings. It feeds on field-mice, small birds, and insects; which it will discover at a great distance. This is the hawk that we so frequently see in the air fixed in one place; and, as it were, fanning it with its wings; at which time it is watching for its prey. When falconry was in use in Great Britain, this bird was trained for catching small birds and young partridges. It is easily distinguished from all other hawks. by its colours. The crown of the head and the greater part of the tail are of a fine light grey; the back and coverts of the wing of a brick-red, elegantly spotted with black; the whole under side of the bird of a pale rust-colour spotted with black.
13. The fuscator, with yellowish wax and legs; the body is of a brownish white colour; and the covers of the eyes are bony. He has a fleshy lobe between the nostrils; which when angry or terrified, he inflates till his head becomes as big as his whole body. He is a native of Surinam.
14. The cachiunans, or laughing hawk, has yellowish legs and wax, and white eye-brows; the body is variegated with brown and white; and it has a black ring round the top of the head. It makes a laughing kind of noise when it observes any person, and is a native of America.
15. The columbarius, or pigeon-hawk of Catesby, weighs about six ounces. The bill is black at the point, and whitish at the base; the iris of the eye is yellow; the base of the upper mandible is covered with a yellow cere or wax; all the upper part of the body, wings, and tail, are brown. The interior vanes of the quill-feathers have large red spots. The tail is marked with large regular transverse white lines; the throat, breast, and belly, are white, mixed with brown; the small feathers that cover the thighs reach within half an inch of the feet, and are white, with a tincture of red, befit with long spots of brown; the legs and feet are yellow. It inhabits America, from Hudson's Bay as low as South Carolina. In the last it attains to a larger size. In Hudson's Bay it appears in May on the banks of Severn river, breeds, and retires south in autumn. It feeds on small birds; and on the approach of any person, flies in circles, and makes a great shrieking. It forms its nest in a rock, or some hollow tree, with sticks and grass; and lines it with feathers; and lays from two to four eggs, white, spotted with red. In Carolina it preys on pigeons, and young of the wild turkeys.
16. The furcatus, or swallow-tailed hawk, has a black bill, legs hooked than usual with rapacious birds; the eyes are large and black, with a red iris; the head, neck, breast, and belly, are white; the upper part of the back and wings a dark purple; but more dusky towards the lower parts, with a tincture of green. The wings are long in proportion to the body, and, when extended, measure four feet. The tail is dark purple mixed with green, and remarkably forked. This most elegant species inhabits only the southern parts of North America; and that only during summer. Like swallows, they feed chiefly flying; for they are much on wing, and prey on various sorts of insects. They also feed on lizards and serpents; and will kill the largest of the regions it frequents with the utmost ease. They quit North America before winter, and are supposed to retreat to Peru.
17. Halizetus, the fishing-hawk of Catesby, or the osprey, weighs three pounds and a quarter; it measures, from one end of the wing to the other, five feet and a half. The bill is black, with a blue cere or wax; the iris of the eye is yellow, and the crown of the head brown, with a mixture of white feathers; from each eye, backwards, runs a brown stripe; the back, wings, and tail, are of a dark brown; the throat, neck, and belly, white; the legs and feet are rough and scaly, and of a pale blue colour; the talons are black, and nearly of an equal size; the feathers of the thighs are short, and adhere close to them, contrary to others of the hawk kind, which nature seems to have designed for the more easily penetrating the water. Notwithstanding the osprey is so persecuted by the bald eagle, yet it always keeps near its haunts. It is a species of vast quickness of flight; and will see a fish near the surface from a great distance: defend with prodigious rapidity, and carry the prey with an exulting scream high into the air. The eagle hears the note, and instantly attacks the osprey; who drops the fish, which the former catches before it can reach the ground or water. The lower parts of the rivers and creeks near the sea in America, abound with these eagles and hawks, where such diverting contests are often seen. It sometimes happens that the osprey perishes in taking its prey; for if it chances to fix its talons in an overgrown fish, it is drawn under water before it can disengage itself, and is drowned.
18. The Iceland falcon (G. Mag. 1771, p. 297), or gyrfalco Lin., has a strong bill, much hooked, the upper mandible sharply angulated on the lower edges, with a bluish wax: the head is of a very pale rust-colour, streaked downwards with dusky lines: the neck, breast, and belly, are white, marked with cordated spots; the thighs white, crossed with short bars of deep brown: the back and coverts of the wings are dusky, spotted and edged with white; the exterior webs of the primaries dusky mottled with reddish white, the inner barred with white: the feathers of the tail are crossed with 14 or more narrow bars of dusky and white; the dusky bars regularly opposing those of white: the wings, when closed, reach almost to the end of the train: legs are strong and yellow. The length of the wing, from the pinion to the tip is 16 inches.—This species is an inhabitant of Iceland, and is the most esteemed of any for the sport of falconry.
19. The fulicus, or Greenland falcon, has dusky irises; lead-coloured wax and feet; brown crown, marked with irregular oblong white spots; whitish forehead, blackish cheeks; the hind part of the head and throat white; breast and belly of a yellowish white, striped downwards with dusky streaks; the back dusky, tinged with blue, the ends of the feathers lightest, and sprinkled over with a few white spots, especially towards the rump; the wings of the same colours, variegated beneath with white and black; the upper part of the tail dusky crossed very faintly with paler bars, the under side whitish. It inhabits all parts of Greenland, from the remotest hills to those which impend over the sea. They are even seen on the islands of ice remote from shore. They retire in the breeding-season to the farthest part of the country, and return in autumn with their young. They breed in the same manner as the cinereous eagle, but in more distant places; and lay from three to five eggs. The tail of the young is black, with great brown spots on the exterior webs. They prey on ptarmigans, auks, and all the small birds of the country. They have frequent disputes with the raven, but seldom come off victors; for the raven will, on being attacked, fling itself on its back; and either by defending itself with its claws, or by calling, with its creaking, numbers of others to its help, oblige the falcon to retire. The Greenlanders use the skin, among others, for their inner garments; the wings for brushes; the feet for amulets: but seldom eat the flesh, unless compelled by hunger.
20. The gyrfalcon (Br. Zool. n° 47.) has a yellow wax; the bill bluish, and greatly hooked; the eye dark blue; the throat of a pure white; the whole body, wings, and tail, of the same colour, most elegantly marked with dusky bars, lines, or spots, leaving the white the far prevailing colour. There are instances, but rare, of its being found entirely white. In some, the whole tail is crossed by remote bars of black or brown; in others, they appear only very faintly on the middle feathers: the feathers of the thighs are very long and unspotted: the legs strong, and of a light blue. Its weight is 45 ounces Troy; length, near two feet; extent, four feet two. This species has the same manners and haunts with the former. It is very frequent in Iceland; is found in Lapland and Norway; and rarely in the Orkneys and North Britain. In Asia, it dwells in the highest points of the Urallian and other Siberian mountains, and dares the coldest climates throughout the year. It is kept in the latitude of Petersburg, uninjured in the open air during the severest winters.—This species is pre-eminent in courage as well as beauty, and is the terror of other hawks. It was flown at all kinds of fowl, how greatsoever they were; but its chief game used to be herons and cranes.
The three last species are in high esteem for sport. They are reserved for the kings of Denmark; who send their falconer with two attendants annually into Iceland to purchase them. They are caught by the natives; a certain number of whom in every district are licensed for that purpose. They bring all they take, about midsummer, to Beeston, to meet the royal falconer; and each brings 10 or 12, capped, and perched on a cross pole, which they carry on horseback and rest on the stirrup. The falconer examines the birds, rejects those which are not for his purpose, and gives the seller a written certificate of the qualities of each, which entitles him to receive from the king's receiver-general fifteen rixdollars for the purest white falcon (n° 20.), ten for n° 19, or those which are least white; and seven for n° 18. This brings into the island between 2000 and 3000 rixdollars annually. They are taken in the following manner:—Two pots are fastened in the ground, not remote from their haunts. To one is tied a ptarmigan, a pigeon, a cock or hen, fastened to a cord that it may have means of fluttering, and so attract the attention of the falcon. On the other pot is placed a net, distended on a hoop, about six feet in diameter. Through this pot is introduced a string, above 100 yards long, which is fastened to the net, in order to pull it down; and another is fastened to the upper part of the hoop, and goes through the pot to which the bait is tied. As soon as the falcon sees the fowl flutter on the ground, he takes a few circles in the air, to see if there is any danger, then darts on its prey with such violence as to strike off the head, as nicely as if it was done with a razor. He then usually rises again, and takes another circle, to explore the place a second time: after which it makes another flight; when, at the instant of its descending, the man pulls the dead bird under the net; and, by means of the other cord, covers the falcon with the net at the moment it has seized the prey; the person lying concealed behind some stones, or else lies flat on his belly, to elude the sight of the falcon. As soon as one is caught, it is taken gently out of the net, for fear of breaking any of the feathers of the wings or tail; and a cap is placed over its eyes. If any of the tail-feathers are injured, the falconers have the art of grafting others; which sometimes has occasioned a needless multiplication of species.
The Iceland falcons are in the highest esteem. They will last 10 or 12 years; whereas those of Norway, and other countries, seldom are fit for sport after two or three years use. Yet the Norwegian hawks were in old times in great repute in this kingdom, and even thought bribes worthy of a king. Geoffrey Le Pierre, chief judiciary, gave two good Norway hawks to King John, that Walter Le Madina might have leave to export 100 weight of cheese. John the son of Othgar, gave a Norway hawk to have the king's request to the king of Norway, to let him have his brother's chattels; and Ralf Havoc fined to King Stephen in two gyrfalcons (gyrfalcons) and two Norway hawks, that he might have the same acquaintance that his father had.
21. The aviporus, with black wax, yellow legs, half naked, the head of an ash colour, and having an ash-coloured stripe on the tail, which is white at the end. It is the honey-buzzard of Ray, and had its name from the combs of wasps being found in its nest. It is a native of Europe, and feeds on mice, lizards, frogs, bees, &c. It runs very swiftly, like a hen.
22. The æuginofus, or moor-buzzard, with greenish wax, a greyish body, the top of the head, nape of the neck, and legs, yellowish; is a native of Europe, and frequents moors, marshy places, and heaths: it never soars like other hawks; but commonly sits on the ground or on small bushes. It makes its nest in the midst of a tuft of grass or rushes. It is a very fierce and voracious bird; and is a great destroyer of rabbits, young wild-ducks, and other water-fowl. It preys, like the osprey, on fish.
23. The palumbarius, with black wax edged with yellow; yellow legs, a brown body, the prime feathers of the tail marked with pale streaks, and the eye-brows white. It is the goshawk of Ray; and was formerly in high esteem among falconers, being flown at cranes, geese, pheasants, and partridges. It breeds in Scotland, and builds its nest in trees. It is very destructive to game, and dashes through the woods after its quarry with vast impetuosity; but if it cannot catch the object of its pursuit almost immediately, deserts, and perches on a bough till some new game presents itself.—This species is common in Muscovy and Siberia. They extend to the river Amur; and are used by the emperor of China in his sporting progresses, attended by his grand falconer, and 1000 of the subordinate. Every bird has a silver plate fastened to its foot, with the name of the falconer who had the charge of it; that in case it should be lost, it might be brought to the proper person: but if he could not be found, the bird is delivered to another officer, called the guardian of lost birds; who keeps it till it is demanded. manded by the falconer to whom it belonged. That this great officer may the more readily be found among the army of hunters who attend the emperor, he erects a standard in the most conspicuous place.
24. The nifus, or sparrow-hawk, with green wax, yellow legs, a white belly undulated with grey, and the tail marked with blackish belts. This is the most pernicious hawk we have; and makes great havoc among pigeons as well as partridges. It builds in hollow trees, in old nests of crows, large ruins, and high rocks: it lays four white eggs, encircled near the blunter end with red specks.
25. The minutus, with white wax, yellow legs, and the body white underneath. It is the least hawk of Britons, being about the size of a thrush; and is found on the island Melita.
There are near 100 other species distinguished by ornithologists. Among these are two described by Mr Bruce; one of which deserves particular notice here, as being not only the largest of the eagle kind, but, in our author's opinion, the largest bird that flies. He calls it the golden eagle; by the natives it is vulgarly called abon duchm, or father long-beard. It is not an object of any chance, nor stood in need of any stratagem to bring it within reach. Upon the highest top of the mountain Lamalmon, while Mr Bruce's servants were refreshing themselves from that toilsome rugged ascent, and enjoying the pleasure of a most delightful climate, eating their dinner in the outer air with several large dishes of boiled goats flesh before them, this eagle suddenly made its appearance; he did not stoop rapidly from a height, but came flying slowly along the ground, and sat down close to the meat within the ring the men had made round it. A great shout, or rather cry of distress, which they raised, made the bird stand for a minute as if to recollect himself, while the servants ran for their lances and shields. His attention was fully fixed upon the flesh. He put his foot into the pan where was a large piece in water prepared for boiling; but finding the smart which he had not expected, he withdrew it, and forsook the piece which he held. There were two large pieces, a leg and a shoulder, lying upon a wooden platter; into these he truffled both his claws and carried them off; skimming slowly along the ground as he had come, till he disappeared behind a cliff. But being observed at his departure to look wistfully at the large piece which remained in the warm water, it was concluded that he would soon return: in expectation of which Mr Bruce loaded a rifle-gun with ball, and sat down close to the platter by the meat. It was not many minutes before he came, and a prodigious shout was raised by the attendants, "He is coming, he is coming!" enough to have discouraged a less courageous animal. Whether it was not quite so hungry as at the first visit, or suspected something from Mr Bruce's appearance, it made a small turn, and sat down about ten yards from him, the pan with the meat being between them. In this situation Mr Bruce fired, and shot him with the ball through the middle of his body about two inches below the wing, so that he lay down upon the grass without a single flutter. Upon laying hold of his monstrous carcass, our author was not a little surprized at seeing his hands covered and tinged with yellow powder or dust. Upon turning him upon his belly, and examining the feathers of his back, they produced a brown dust, the colour of the feathers there. This dust was not in small quantities; for upon striking his breast, the yellow powder flew in fully greater quantity than from a hair-dresser's powder puff. The feathers of the belly and breast, which were of a gold colour, did not appear to have anything extraordinary in their formation, but the large feathers in the shoulder and wings seemed apparently to be fine tubes, which upon pressure scattered this dust upon the finer part of the feather, but this was brown, the colour of the feathers of the back. Upon the side of the wing, the ribs, or hard part of the feather, seemed to be bare as if worn, or, in our author's opinion, were rather renewing themselves, having before failed in their function. What is the reason of this extraordinary provision of nature, our author does not pretend to determine. But as it is an unusual one, it is probably meant, he thinks, for a defence against the climate in favour of those birds which live in those almost inaccessible heights of a country doomed even in its lower parts to several months of excessive rain. According to Mr Bruce's description, this bird, from wing to wing, was 8 feet 4 inches; from the tip of his tail to the point of his beak when dead, 4 feet 7 inches. He was remarkably short in the legs, being only four inches from the joining of the foot to where the leg joins the thigh, and from the joint of the thigh to the jointing of his body six inches. The thickness of his thigh was little less than four inches; it was extremely muscular, and covered with flesh. His middle claw was about two inches and a half long, not very sharp at the point, but extremely strong. From the root of the bill to the point was three inches and a quarter, and one inch and three quarters in breadth at the root. A forked brush of strong hair, divided at the point into two, proceeded from the cavity of his lower jaw at the beginning of his throat. His eye was remarkably small in proportion to his bulk, the aperture being scarcely half an inch. The crown of his head was bare or bald, as was also the front where the bill and skull joined.