Harpies

Drawing by Margaret Atwood, reproduced in the Talese-Doubleday edition of Atwood's Good Bones and Simple Murders (1994).

Razor-clawed, smelly birds with the faces of women, who defiled the food of King Phineus of Salmydessus. The king was so grateful to the Argonauts for ridding him of these pests that he suggested a means by which Jason and his shipmates might avoid being crushed to death by the Clashing Rocks.

"Harpies." Encyclopedia of Greek Mythology. http://www.mythweb.com/encyc/entries/harpies.html
[Accessed May 21st, 2003.]

"Robbers". In earlier versions of Greek myth, Harpies were described as beautiful, winged maidens. Later they became winged monsters with the face of an ugly old woman and equipped with crooked, sharp talons. They were represented carrying off persons to the underworld and inflicting punishment or tormenting them. Those persons were never seen again. They robbed the food from Phineus, but were driven away by Cailas and Zetes, the Boreads, and since then they lived on the Strophades. The Harpies were probably the personification of storm winds. They are: Aello, Celaeno, and Ocypete.

"Harpies." Encyclopedia Mythica.
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/h/harpies.html
[Accessed May 21st, 2003.]

Their first landing was at the island of the Harpies. These were disgusting birds with the heads of maidens, with long claws and faces pale with hunger. They were sent by the gods to torment a certain Phineus, whom Jupiter had deprived of his sight, in punishment of his cruelty; and whenever a meal was placed before him the Harpies darted down from the air and carried it off. They were driven away from Phineus by the heroes of the Argonautic expedition, and took refuge in the island where AEneas now found them.

When they entered the port the Trojans saw herds of cattle roaming over the plain. They slew as many as they wished and prepared for a feast. But no sooner had they seated themselves at the table than a horrible clamour was heard in the air, and a flock of these odious harpies came rushing down upon them, seizing in their talons the meat from the dishes and flying away with it. AEneas and his companions drew their swords and dealt vigorous blows among the monsters, but to no purpose, for they were so nimble it was almost impossible to hit them, and their feathers were like armour impenetrable to steel. One of them, perched on a neighbouring cliff, screamed out, "Is it thus, Trojans, you treat us innocent birds, first slaughter our cattle and then make war on ourselves?" She then predicted dire sufferings to them in their future course, and having vented her wrath flew away. The Trojans made haste to leave the country.

Thomas Bulfinch. Bulfinch's Mythology.
Vol. 1: The Age of Fable, or Stories of Gods and Heroes. 1855. http://www.greekmythology.com/Books/Bulfinch/B_Chapter_31/b_chapter_31.html
[Accessed May 22nd, 2003.]