372 Mr. Vigors's Sketches in Ornitholog?/. 



Another distinguishing character in this family, which equally 

 corresponds with the nature of their food, is the nakedness of the 

 parts about the head. We may in general observe that the effect 

 upon birds of feeding upon flesh, and particularly when it is in a 

 state of decay, is that of producing a falling off of the feathers, or 



have long associated these two corresponding groups together as uniting in 

 their work of destruction : 



voK><ns ^i KYNEZ Kxt rXOES t^ovroct 



II. XVIII. 271. 

 T«;^a KEV I KYNES Kxt TYnES e^ovrxi 



KeifASVov, 



II. XXII. 42. 



ToDtov TToXst tyTS* £)tx£xt}^yj^3"a/, ra^o; 



M»?T£ JtTC^/^s/v, />t*3T£ KUKVUXl TlVXy 



Ectv S* aS'aTTTov, Koit tr^os flinNHN osfAxs 

 Kai TTfoy KYNHN Bha-rov aciKtarroi r i^eiv. 



Soph. Ant. 203. 

 Unguibus et rostro tardus trahet ilia vuUur ; 

 Et scindent avidae perfida corda canes. 



Ovid. Ibis. 169. 



Silius Italicus, in referring to an extraordinary custom prevalent in some 

 nations of exposing their dead to the ravages of animals, particularizes these 

 two groups as the agents of destruction. 



Tellure, ut perhibent, is mos antiquus Ibera, 



Exanima obscoenus consumit corpora vuUur. 



Regia cum lucem posuerunt membra, probatum est, 



Hyrcanis adhibere canes. 



De Bell. Pun. XIII. 471. 



Lucretius also may be adduced as pointing out the corresponding mode in 

 which both are led to their prey, through the medium of their organs of smell. 



per auras, 



longe ducuntur odore 



Volturii cadaveribus ; tum fissa ferarum 



Ungula quo tulerit gvessum, promissa canum vis 



Ducit. 



De Rer. Nat. IV. 682. 



This connection between the two groups seems to have given rise to a sort of 

 proverbial expression, " Si vero naribus nidorem domesticum praesentit, 

 vincit idem sagacitate odorandi et Canes et Vultures. Apul. de Magia. 



