The Harpies
They are said to have been feathered, with cocks' heads, wings, and human arms, with great claws; breasts, bellies, and female parts human.....
The harpies seem originally to have been wind spirits (personifications of the destructive nature of wind). Their name means "snatchers" or "swift robbers"and they steal food from their victims while they are eating and carry evildoers (especially those who have killed their family) to the Erinyes.
When a person suddenly disappeared from the earth, it was said that he had been carried off by the harpies.Thus, they carried off the daughters of king Pandareus and gave them as servants to the Erinyes.In this form they were agents of punishment who abducted people and tortured them on their way to Tartarus. They were vicious, cruel and violent..... They are named Aello ("storm swift") and Ocypete ("the swift wing"),and Virgil added Celaeno ("the dark") as a third.Homer knew of a harpy named Podarge ("fleet-foot").Aello, is sometimes also spelled Aellopus or Nicothoe; Ocypete, sometimes also spelled Ocythoe or Ocypode....
As with many other mythical creatures they were often depicted and immortalized in art as can be seen from the pictures below.