The Animal World, A Book of Natural History Part 31

First among the birds of prey come the vultures. Yet very often, strange to say, they never kill any prey at all, and the best naturalists suspect that they should be placed in a cla.s.s by themselves. They much prefer to feed on carrion, so that if they can find the dead body of an animal they will never take the trouble to seek and kill victims for themselves. When an animal dies in a country in which vultures live, several of these birds are sure to find its carca.s.s almost immediately.

And in a very short time nothing will be left of it but just the bare skeleton.

So, you see, these birds are really very useful. They belong to the great army of nature's dustmen, just like the jackals and the hyenas.

For by destroying these carca.s.ses before they can putrefy, they help to keep the air pure. In the cities of the Southern United States and of the tropics our small American vulture, the turkey-buzzard, is really depended upon as a scavenger.

How vultures find the dead body of an animal is just a little doubtful.

Some naturalists have thought that they find it by means of sight, and others that they do so by means of smell. It seems almost certain, however, that when they are hovering high in the air they are really watching one another; so that when one of them sees a carca.s.s and swoops down upon it, all the other vultures within sight notice what he is doing, and come hurrying up for a share in the banquet. This explains how it is that if an animal is killed when not a vulture is to be seen, quite a number of these great, strong, ravenous birds will make their appearance in a very short time.

THE LAMMERGEIER

This is the finest of all the vultures. It is found in Southern Europe, in Northern Africa, and in Western Asia, and is sometimes as much as four feet in length from the tip of the beak to the end of the tail, while its wings may measure more than ten feet across when fully spread.

It is one of the very few vultures which have the head and neck clothed with feathers. Besides this, a curious tuft of bristle-like hairs covers the nostrils, while a similar tuft grows just under the base of the bill. For this reason the bird is sometimes known as the bearded vulture.

Lammergeiers are generally found among high mountains, where they prey upon hares and marmots, and even upon rats and mice. They will visit the flocks, too, which are feeding upon the gra.s.sy slopes, and carry off kids and lambs. Chamois, when formerly they were more plentiful than now, used to be attacked by them, and their favorite plan was to swoop down upon them when they were standing on the brink of a precipice, strike them over into the depths below by a stroke of their powerful wings, and then descend to feed upon their mangled bodies.

The plumage of the lammergeier is grayish brown above and nearly white below. The feathers of the neck are white, and there is also a pale streak running down the middle of those upon the back.

The lammergeier makes a great clumsy nest of sticks, which is sometimes placed on a ledge of a lofty cliff, and sometimes in the topmost branches of a very tall tree. Two eggs are laid, which are dirty white in color, with brownish blotches.

THE CONDOR

The condor is another very large vulture, inhabiting the great mountain chain of the Andes. There it may be seen soaring high in air, its keen eyes intently scanning the ground beneath it; and it may fly to and fro for hours, rising and falling and sweeping round in great circles, and yet never once flap its wings!

Condors live for the most part on llamas which have died a natural death, or which have been killed by pumas and only partly devoured; but two or three of them will unite together, when they are hungry, in order to kill sheep or cattle.

In color the condor is grayish black, with a ruff of white feathers round the lower part of the neck. On the head of the male is a large fleshy wattle. It makes no nest at all, but simply lays its two white eggs on a rocky ledge high up on the mountainside.

A variety of the condor inhabited Mexico and southern California until recent years, but has now become almost or quite extinct. It differed little from that of the Andes in either appearance or habits.

THE SECRETARY-VULTURE

The African secretary-vulture was formerly regarded as a kind of crane, on account of its long stilt-like legs, and owes its name to the curious tuft of very long feathers at the back of its head, which cause it to look rather as though it were carrying a number of quill pens behind its ears. The two middle feathers of the tail, also, are exceedingly long, so that when the bird is standing upright their tips almost rest upon the ground.

The secretary-bird spends its time on the ground, where it wanders over the plains in pairs, and feeds upon small mammals, lizards, tortoises, frogs, and locusts. It is also said to kill and devour even large snakes, but whether it really does so is not quite certain.

EAGLES--SYMBOLS OF POWER

Next to the vultures come the eagles, of which two examples may be mentioned--the white-headed, or bald eagle and the golden eagle, or war-eagle as the Indians called it. Both are known in various local varieties in all parts of the world, and both have been regarded with admiration by brave men in all ages. The bald eagle is the symbol of the United States; and its cousin, the white-tailed, is to be seen along all the coasts of the Old World except the arctic. The American eagle frequents the sh.o.r.es of both oceans, and of our great lakes and rivers, because its favorite food is fish, which it obtains mainly by robbing the industrious fish-hawks.

Of a n.o.bler character, according to our human ideas, is the golden eagle, and it is also larger, the female--which, in birds of prey, usually exceeds her mate in size--sometimes measuring nearly three feet in length and eight or nine feet across her outspread wings. This magnificent bird may still frequently be seen in the remoter and more mountainous parts of both continents, but in America is extremely rare east of the Rocky Mountains and Lake Superior, and in Europe west of the Swiss and German Alps. This was the eagle which by its bold mien so impressed the early conquerors of Italy that they chose it to represent them on their coins and standards, so that it came to be known throughout a subject world as the Roman Eagle; and its image has descended to the arms of Italy, Austria, Germany, Russia, and other nations.

The aerie, or nesting-place, of these grand birds is much the same in both kinds--a rude heap of sticks sufficiently hollowed on the summit to hold the brown-blotched eggs, and placed upon a ledge of rocks, or perhaps in the top of some huge tree. It may serve the purpose of a home for many years in succession. Eagles have been recorded on both sides of the Atlantic as using the same aerie for nearly a century without interruption; and in such cases the structure often becomes of prodigious size. A nest found in Scotland was nine feet high, five feet across at the top, and twenty feet in width at the bottom; so that it was really as big as a good-sized haystack!

Round this nest were the bones of between forty and fifty grouse, besides those of a number of lambs, rabbits, and hares, which had been brought there by the parent birds for the use of the young.

Very often a ledge close to the aerie is used as a larder, where the old birds put their victims as soon as they are caught, and leave them until they are wanted. When they are hunting the two birds generally work together, one dashing in among bushes and low herbage, among which hares, partridges, or other animals are likely to be hiding, and the other lying in wait to pounce upon them as they rush out in alarm.

THE OSPREY AND OTHER HAWKS

Not quite as big as the eagles, the fish-hawk, or osprey, is nevertheless a large bird, for it measures nearly two feet in length and between five and six feet in spread of wing. It is found in nearly all parts of the world where civilization is not too destructive of its privileges, and is numerous on all our great lakes and rivers as well as by the coast.

The osprey feeds almost entirely upon fish, and may be seen sweeping to and fro over the water, keenly watching for its victims as they rise to the surface. When it catches sight of a fish it swoops down upon it, plunges into the water with a great splashing, and nearly always rises again a moment or two later with the fish struggling in its talons. But it does not always succeed in reaching the sh.o.r.e with it, for the white-headed eagle is also very fond of fish, though it does not like the trouble of catching them. So it lies in wait for the fish-hawk as it returns from a fishing expedition, and beats it about the head with its great wings until it is glad to drop its victim in order to escape, when the eagle swoops down and catches the morsel before it reaches the ground.

These great birds may still be seen all along our coasts and beside our lakes, where they live usually unmolested, although most other hawks are likely to be shot at by every wandering man and boy with a gun. This safety is due not only to the belief that they do no particular harm, but to a feeling, especially along the eastern sea-coast, that it is a lucky thing to have a pair build their nest near the home of a fisherman, to whom they are thought to bring good fortune. This nest is a big structure of sticks which is placed among the branches of a tree near the water--preferably a tall tree, but sometimes, when these are not handy, in a low one. Thus at the eastern end of Long Island, New York, where the ospreys have been protected for many years, their nests often rest on a small cedar or other tree close to the ground; and in some places on the coast of New England men have erected little platforms on the top of poles where the ospreys have made their homes.

All these nests are repaired and occupied year after year, and thus sometimes grow to be of immense size.

FAMILIAR FALCONS AND HAWKS

If one were to try to describe even half of the great number of different kinds of falcons and hawks in the world, or even in America, this book would not be large enough for the purpose. Among those most often seen in this country are two large, softly plumaged, brown hawks, with square, barred tails, of the group called buzzards. One is the red-tailed, another the red-shouldered, and a third the broad-winged, the several names denoting the specially noticeable features in each case. All make their homes in the woods, constructing big nests in trees, and early in the spring laying brown-blotched eggs. These hawks fly heavily over the fields in search of frogs, small snakes, field-mice (of which they catch great numbers), and once in a while seize a young bird which cannot yet fly very well; but mostly they live on mice and insects. The country people call all of them hen-hawks, and are likely to shoot them when they can; but in truth they harm the poultry-yard very little.

The really dangerous "hen-hawks" are two or three much smaller and more active falcons, such as the Cooper's and sharp-shinned hawks. They are swift and fierce, and will dart down and s.n.a.t.c.h a bird from its perch or pick up a small chicken with amazing suddenness and speed. These hawks are sometimes called kestrels, after a well-known European falcon which they resemble.

KESTRELS AND OTHER CHICKEN-HAWKS

You may often see one or the other of these hovering high in the air, as do the English kestrels, about three or four hundred feet from the ground, and carefully watching for the mice upon which after all they mainly feed. It has eyes like telescopes, so that as soon as a mouse pokes its head out of its burrow it catches sight of it, swoops down upon it, seizes it in its talons, and carries it off to be devoured. The number of mice which it catches in this way is very large, and it has been estimated that at least ten thousand of these destructive little creatures are killed by every kestrel in the course of every year. So we must look upon the bird as one of the best friends of the farmer, in spite of the occasional loss of a chicken.

When it cannot find any mice the kestrel will sometimes eat small birds, and now and then it will feed upon c.o.c.kchafers and other large insects, catching them in its claws as they fly, and then pa.s.sing them up to its beak.

Kestrels sometimes build in trees and sometimes in towers and old buildings. But very often they make use of the deserted nest of a magpie or a crow. From four to six eggs are laid, which are blotched with reddish brown on a bluish-white ground.

Two near relatives, inhabiting both the old and the new worlds, are the pigeon-hawk and sparrow-hawk. They are much alike, and their plumage is more varied in color and pattern than that of other falcons. Both are rather shy, and not often seen in the open; but are so courageous that they will sometimes attack large birds, like ducks or grouse. The handsome sparrow-hawk is best known. It will often dash into a flock of sparrows and carry one of them off in its talons. It will sometimes swoop down into a farmyard, too, and s.n.a.t.c.h up a chicken or a duckling, while numbers of young pheasants and partridges fall victims to its ravages. In days of old it was sometimes captured and trained for hawking, like the merlin and the falcon, and it is said that a single tame sparrow-hawk would sometimes kill as many as seventy or eighty quail in a single day.

In Europe sparrow-hawks seldom take the trouble to build a nest of their own, but nearly always make use of the deserted abode of a crow or magpie, in which they lay three or four grayish-white eggs marked with a number of dark-brown spots and blotches; but the American hawks of this group make their homes in crannies in hollow trees, stuffing the hole with a warm bed of gra.s.s and feathers.

OWLS, THE TERROR OF THE NIGHT

Next in order come those very singular birds which we call owls, and which are really hawks that fly by night.

The eyes of these birds are very much like those of cats, being formed in such a way as to take in even the faintest rays of light. Owing to this fact owls can see on very dark nights, and can fly with as much certainty and catch their prey with as much ease as other birds can in the daylight. Moreover the prominence of their eyes, in the middle of the great feathery disks, enables them to see in almost every direction without turning the head.

This is very important, for wild animals are always alarmed by motion, while they hardly ever notice creatures which keep perfectly still. If you sit or stand for a while without moving even a finger, rabbits and squirrels will often come quite close to you, and never seem to see you at all. But at your very first movement they will take fright and scamper away. So if an owl had to be constantly turning its head from side to side in order to look for prey, its victims would certainly see it, and would make good their escape. But as its eyes are set in the middle of those great feathery circles, and turn easily in their sockets, there is no need for it to do so, for it can look out in almost every direction without moving its head in the least.

There are a good many different kinds of owls, several of which are found in both continents. There is the long-eared owl, for instance, which has two rather long feathery tufts upon its head; and there is the short-eared owl, which has short ones. As a rule, these tufts lie flat upon the head. But when the bird is excited they stand upright, and give it a very odd appearance. Then there is the brown owl, which utters that mournful hooting sound which one so often hears by night in wooded districts.

Very often as one is walking along a country lane in the evening one of these birds sweeps suddenly by and disappears into the darkness.

It is busy searching for mice, and the number which it catches must be very great. For it has been found that when a pair of these birds have little ones, they bring a mouse to them about once in every quarter of an hour all through the night! And, besides that, their own appet.i.tes have to be satisfied; and owls seem always to be hungry.

One day the late Lord Lilford, one of the foremost British ornithologists of his time, tried to see how many mice a barn-owl really could swallow. So he caught one of these birds and put it in a cage, and gave it seven mice one after the other. Six of these it gulped down without any hesitation; but though it tried hard to swallow the seventh it could not quite manage to do so, and for about twenty minutes the tail of the mouse was dangling from a corner of its beak. At last, however, the tail disappeared; and three hours later the owl was actually hungry again, and ate four more mice!

None of the owls ever digest the bones and feathers or hair of their prey; but these materials get packed into b.a.l.l.s in the stomach, and after a time are coughed up and thrown away. Very often large quant.i.ties of these "pellets" are found in hollow trees in which owls have been roosting, more than a bushel having been taken from a single tree, and by examining them one may learn the character of the bird's daily fare.