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Encyclopedia Britannica



HARPY

This article appears in Volume V13, Page 16 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: HAN-HEG
HARPY , a large diurnal bird of
prey
 , so named after the mythological
monster
  of the classical poets (see
HARPIES
 ),the Thrasaetus harpyia of modern ornithologistsan inhabitant of the warmer parts of America from Southern
Mexico
  to Brazil. Though known since the middle of the 17th century, its habits have come very little under the notice of naturalists, and what is said of them by the older writers must be received with some
Harpy.
suspicion. A cursory inspection of the bird, which is not unfrequently brought alive to Europe, its size, and its enormous bill and talons, at once suggest the vast
powers
  of destruction imputed to it, and are enough to account for the stories told of its ravages on mammalssloths, fawns, peccaries and spider-monkeys. It has even been asserted to attack the human race. How much of this is fabulous there seems no means at present of determining, but some of the statements are made by veracious travellersD'Orbigny and Tschudi. It is not uncommon in the forests of the
isthmus
  of Panama, and Salvin says (Prot. Zool. Society, 1864, p. 368) that its flight is slow and heavy. Indeed its owl-like visage, its short wings and soft plumage, do not indicate a bird of very active habits, but the weapons of offence with which it is armed show that it must be able to
cope
  with vigorous
prey
 . Its
appearance
  is sufficiently strikingthe head and lower parts, -except a pectoral band, white, the former
adorned with an erectile crest, the upper parts dark grey bandec with black, the wings dusky, and the tail barred; but the huge bill and powerful scutellated legs most of all impress the be-holder. The precise affinities of the harpy cannot be said tc have been determined. By some authors it is referred to the eagles, by others to the buzzards, and by others again to the hawks; but possibly the first of these alliances is the most likely to be true. (A. N.)


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