ACCIPITRES. 227 



a bluish violet. It is equally common with the preceding, and 

 and is still larger, frequently attacking living animals. (1) 



V. aiiricularis^ Daud.; Vaill. Afr. pi. ix. (The Oricou.) 

 Blackishj a longitudinal fleshy crest on each side of the neck, 

 above the ear. From Africa.(2) 

 America produces Vultures remarkable for the caruncles which 

 surmount the membrane of the base of their beak ; the latter is as 

 large as in the preceding species, but the nostrils are oval and lon- 

 gitudinal. They constitute the Sarcoramphus of Dumeril.(3) 



Vult. -papa^ L.; Enl. 428; Viellot, Gal. 3; Iruhi Cha, Azz. 

 (The King of the Vultures.) As large as a goose ; blackish 

 when young, (Spix. pi. 1) then variegated with black and fawn 

 colour, (Vaill. Afric. 13) and finally, in the fourth year, has a 

 fawn coloured mantle, and black quills and collar. The naked 

 parts of the head and neck are vividly tinged, and the caruncle 

 is denticulated like the comb of a cock. It inhabits the plains 

 and other hot parts of South America. Its name is derived 

 from the circumstance of the Urubus retiring, through fear, 

 when he stoops upon a body which they have already begun to 

 devour. 



Vult. gryphus, L. ; Humb. Obs. Zool. pi. viii, and Tern. PI. 

 Col. 133 and 408. (The Condor.) Blackish ; a great part of 

 the wing ash coloured ; collar silky and white ; the male, in 

 addition to his superior caruncle, which is large and entire, has 

 another under the beak, like the cock. While young, it is of a 

 cinereous brown, and without a collar. The caruncles are defi- 

 cient in the female, which is of a brownish grey. This species 

 has been rendered famous by exaggerated reports of its size j it 

 is, however, but a little larger than the Lsemjner-geyer, to which 

 it assimilates in habits. It is found in the most elevated moun- 

 tains of the Andes in South America, and flies higher than any 

 other bird. The 



Cathartes, Cuv. Gallinazes, or Catharistes, Viellot, 

 Have the beak of the Sarcoramphus, that is, large, and with oval and 



(1) The F. monachus, Edw. 290 ; Vaill. 12 and Col. 13, only differs from the 

 Brown Vulture in the beak, which is somewhat shorter. The Crested Vulture ( V. 

 cristatus, Gm.) is only known to me by a bad figure of Gesner, probably taken 

 from some species of Eagle. The V. harbarus is the same as the Lsemmer-Geyer, 

 Falco barbatus. 



(2) The Pondicherry Vulture, Sonnerat, pi. cv, or V. ponticerianus, PI. Col. 2, 

 is nearly allied to the Oricou. Its lateral crests do not ascend so high, and its 

 b eak is not so strong. 



(3) M. Vieillot has changed this name into Zoppilota or Gypagus. 



