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Passenger Pigeon — Part 3
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American Vultures
(Family Cathartidoe)
Two of the eight vultures found in the western hemisphere live chiefly in the southern part of the United States. These birds have head and neck bare of feathers or covered only with down; toes and tarsus bare likewise; claws not much incurved and not very sharp; perfectly developed wings for continuous, majestic flight; and strong digestive organs adapted to carrion, since these birds are most active scavengers. Vultures are gregarious. They alone, among the birds of prey, feed their young by disgorging food.
Turkey Vulture
Black Vulture
Kites, Hawks, Eagles
(Family Falconidoe)
A loud, startling cry; powerful legs and feet for striking at prey; the hind fourth toe as long as the others, for grasping; sharp, decurved nails or talons, indicate the extreme of ferocity among the feathered tribes. Small mammals, reptiles, batrachians, and insects make up a far larger proportion of this family's food than birds and poultry, although agriculturists generally little appreciate its great service in protecting their crops. Solitary birds of freedom, they hold themselves high aloof from the world; nevertheless, eagerly vigilant, their wonderfully acute eyes keep constantly alert for food. Flocks are occasionally seen, but in the act of migrating only, for they are not truly gregarious, like vultures. Some species remain mated for life, and become strongly attached to a nesting site, where they return year after year, a pair preempting an entire neighborhood.
Swallow-tailed Kite
Marsh Hawk or Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
American Goshawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Swainson's Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Rough-legged Hawk
Golden Eagle
Bald Eagle
Duck Hawk
Pigeon Hawk
American Sparrow Hawk
American Osprey, or Fish Hawk
Barn Owls
(Family Strigidoe)
A broad, triangular, facial disc; a jagged edged middle toe nail, and some peculiarities of bone structure, separate these birds from the other owls. They have also very long, pointed wings, reaching beyond the tail; soft, downy, speckled plumage; legs feathered to toes; extremely acute, long claws, and comparatively small eyes among other outer characteristics; but in habits they differ little from their kin.
American Barn, or Monkey-faced Owl
Horned and Hoot Owls
(Family Bubonidoe)
Like the osprey in the hawk group, owls have a peculiarly flexible, reversible hind toe; eyes not capable of being rolled but set firmly in the sockets, necessitating the turning of the head to see in different directions; feathered discs around the eyes; loose, mottled plumage, some species with feathered ear tufts (horns), others without; hooked beaks and muscular feet for perching and for grasping prey:--these are their chief characteristics. Birds of the woodland, more rarely of grassy marshes and plains, nearly all nocturnal in habits, since their food consists mostly of small mammals that steal abroad at night to destroy the farmer's crops, the owls are among the most valuable of birds to the agriculturist. Unless too large, the prey is bolted entire-the hair, claws, bones, etc., being afterward ejected in matted pellets.
American Long-eared Owl
American Short-eared Owl
Barred or Hoot Owl
Saw-whet or Acadian Owl
Screech Owl
Great Horned Owl
Snowy Owl
American Hawk Owl
Burrowing Owl
AMERICAN VULTURES
(Family Cathartidoe)