228 AVES. 



longitudinal nostrils, but no fleshy crest j their head and neck are 

 without feathers. 



V. californianus, Sh.; Tern. Col. 31. (The Vulture of Califor- 

 nia.) Approaches the Condor in size, but its wings are pro- 

 portionably longer ; the plumage is entirely brown. 



V. aura, L., Enl. 187; Viellot, Am. Sept. 2 and Galer. 4. 

 (The Turkey Buzzard.) Black ; tail cuneiform ; as large as a 

 cock. See App. XII of Am. Ed. 



Percnopterus,(1) Cuv. Gypaetos, Bechstein. Neophron, Savig. 



The Percnopteri have a slender, long beak, slightly inflated above 

 its curvature ; the nostrils oval and longitudinal, and the head, but 

 not the neck, divested of feathers. They are birds of a moderate 

 size, and very far removed, as to strength, from the true Vultures ; 

 thus they fall more furiously upon carrion and other species of filth, 

 which attract them from afar ; they do not even disdain to feed upon 

 excrement. They were comprehended by lUiger, along with the 

 preceding, among his Cathartes. 



Vult. percnoptenis, L. ; V. leucocephahis and V. fuscus, Gm. 

 Enl. 407 and 429; Vieillot, Galer. 2; Naum. pi. 3; Vult. de 

 Gmgi, Sonn. andDaud.; Origourap,V?ii\]. A(v. 14; Rachamah^ 

 Bruce ; Pharaoh's Bird, in Egypt. As large as a crow ; throat 

 and cheeks naked ; the adult male white, quills of the wings 

 black ; the young and the female, brown. This bird is found 

 throughout the whole of the eastern continent, and is particu- 

 larly common in warm countries, where it is an excellent sca- 

 venger, purifying them from carrion. See. It follows the cara- 

 vans in the desert to devour all that dies. The ancient Egyp- 

 tians held it in respect on account of the services it renders to 

 the country, and frequently sculptured it on their monuments. 

 Even at the present day it is exempt from injury, and pious 

 Mussulmen sometimes bequeath sums of money for the main- 

 tenance of a certain number, 



V. jota, Bonap.; Vieillot, Am. Sept. pi. 1. (The Urubu.) 

 Of the size and form of the preceding ; the beak stronger ; the 

 whole body of a brilliant black ; the entire head naked. Com- 

 mon in all the hot and temperate parts of America, where it 

 renders similar services as the Percnopterus in Egypt ; flocking 

 round dead bodies, and consuming every kind of filth. (2) 



(1) Percnopterus, black wings, the name of the Egyptian species, among the 

 ancients. 



(2) This bird has been confounded for a long time with the aura, but its beak 

 is much more slender. Add the Catharte moine, Pi. Col. 222. 



