A NATURALIST IN BRAZIL 



not molested; though, to be sure, their flesh would not be very 

 palatable. 



There are several species of Urubii ; one, the Raven Vulture, 

 has a dark head; another, the Turkey Vulture, has a red head, 

 and there are also some whose heads are yellow. Brazil boasts also 

 of a very large "Urubiirei," who fully deserves his name of King 

 Vulture, for the plumage of the body, white over pale rose, the 

 jet-black pinions and rump, the bright red of the neck, and the 

 tubercles on the beak, have a truly regal appearance. This bird, 

 however, is rare, and I saw only specimens in captivity. The largest 

 of the vultures, the Condor, is found on and about the snow-covered 

 peaks of the Andes. 



Vultures need bare expanses of land — meadows, deserts or sea 

 beaches — for they must be able to see the dead animals which 

 constitute their nourishment; in wooded country the ground is of 

 course invisible. In Aden I saw the Indian carrion-vultures which 

 are found there, sitting all over the naked rocks of the valley, basking 

 in the sun. There they were allotted the task of devouring the corpses 

 of the Parsees in a "Tower of Silence," for the ancient Persian 

 religion requires the Parsees to dispose of their dead in this manner. 

 In Ceylon, on the other hand, which is largely afforested, there are 

 no vultures. 



The Urubus swallow their food in great mouthfuls, and the 

 larger the carcase the better they like it. They do not touch the 

 smaller fish, Crustacea, and molluscs cast up on the shore ; for these 

 Nature has appointed another body of scavengers. 



If I sat on the beach at Olinda, gazing at the bright green sea, 

 while behind me the coconut-palms rustled, and the brine-scented 

 wind blew into my face, and kept perfectly still, certain phantom- 

 like little creatures emerged one by one from the sand. From all 

 directions dark and curiously dead eyes turned themselves upon me. 

 I was surrounded by spectres. They were sand-crabs, creatures with 

 flat, rectangular bodies and coloured like the sand. They had 

 crept out of their hiding-places — deep holes which they themselves 

 had dug in the sand — and now turned attentively in all directions 

 their black, stalked eyes, which stood up like two little lighthouses. 

 If I still remained motionless they began cautiously to move, slowly 

 at first, and then more quickly, travelling sideways as crabs always 

 do. If they found a dead fish, a scrap of wood, or one of the seed- 



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