The Greenlanders, who kill these birds with arrows, or catch them by snares laid on the snow, eat their flesh, make under garments or beds of their skins sewed tog-e ther, and use the beak and claws as amulets in the treat ment of various complaints.
vocifer. Shaw. Vociferous Eagle. Brown ferrugi nous, undulated with black; head, neck, breast, and tail, white. The craw, which is slightly visible, is covered with long frizzled down. The female is stronger than the male, but less brilliant in. her attire. The sexes are inseparable companions, hunting, flying, and resting toge ther. They subsist chiefly on fish, darting down from the air with inexpressihle celerity on such as they perceive, striking the surface of the water with a loud noise, and even submerging their whole body, to secure their prize. They also devour a sort of large lizard, which abounds in some of the African rivers, and occasionally antelopes, but never birds. Their loud and clamorous call resounds through the vast solitudes of Southern Africa. They are rare at the Cape of Good Hope, and seldom met with till about sixty or eighty leagues in the interior of the coun try ; hut the district in which they most frequently occur, is about the Bay of Lagoa. Like most other eagles, they place their nest either on the top of lofty trees, or on the points of rocks, and line it with wool, feathers, &c. The eggs are shaped like those of the turkey, but larger, and also whiter.
F. ?llbescens, Daud. Blanchard, Levaill. ?llbescent Eagle. Whitish, variegated above with yellowish brown ; tail black, barred with white ; back of the head slightly crested. About a third smaller than the golden eagle, and of a more slender shape. First observed by Levail lant in the regions of Africa that confine on the Cape of Good Hope. The albescent eagle pursues its game with such agility that hardly any bird can outstrip it. It is par tial to a sort of wood pigeon, whose flight is also very ra pid, but which rarely escapes its fangs. It likewise sub sists on wood partridges, and on a very diminutive kind of antelope, which occurs only in the forests. There, con cealed behind the thick branch of a tree, this eagle watches his prey, which he seizes by rushing down on it with noise. No sooner has he accomplished the capture, than all the Grows in the neighbourhood flock around him to share in the spoil; but he defies alike their approach and their Glamour, so that they are contented to remain under the tree on which he makes his repast, and pick up the fallen fragments. He never eats his game on the ground, but always bears it to some lofty station, and plucks off the feathers before he dispatches it. " But what is very ex
traordinary," observes Levaillant, "and seems difficult of belief in a bird whose ordinary food consists of birds, is that the smallest of them may fly, or remain near him with impunity, and even alight on his eyry; for he not only does them no harm, but becomes their protector, and de fends them against other birds of prey." But lie suffers no ravenous bird to approach his domain, chasing and harassing it till it retires. When tranquil, and sated with food, he repeats, for hours together, a weak and shrill cry. The nest is placed on the top of the highest trees, and contains two white eggs, as large as those of the turkey hen, and rounder. The male and female perform, alter nately, the functions of incubation.
Goshawks. Beak curved from the base.
F. palumbarius, Lin. &c. including the gallinarius and gentilis of Grad. and Lath. Goshawk. Upper parts bluish-cinereous ; a broad white stripe above the eyes; the under parts white, with transverse bars, and longitu dinal lines of dark brown; tail einereous, with four or five blackish brown bars. The beak is bluish black, the cere yellowish green, and the iris and the feet are yellow. Length of the female about two feet; size of the wale about one-third less. In the female the brown prevail over the bluish shades, and the number of small brown bars under the breast is greater. Like others of the fal con tribe, the goshawk is sometimes entirely white, or nearly so, and sometimes the head white, and the rest of the body marked as usual, or with occasional variations. It is a native of every quarter of the globe, being found in Iceland, Russia, Poland, Denmark, Great France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Greece, Persia, Ar menia, and in various parts of Africa and North America. In this island, it principally occurs in Scotland. It breeds on the tops of high trees, the female laying four or live eggs, of a bluish white, spotted with fulvous. It flies low, proves very destructive to game, pigeons, and poultry, and dashes through the woods with great impetuosity after its quarry ; but if it cannot almost immediately catch the ob ject of its pursuit, it desists, and perches on a boiagh, till some other opportunity occurs. In the days of falconry, it was held in higher estimation than any of the short winged hawks, and was used for the larger sorts of game, as it still is in the great sporting excursions of the empe ror of China.