STORIES ABOUT BIRDS. 



His prey consists of dead creatures, and he has not the courage to attack 

 livhig ones. Unless, indeed — and this fact shows his cowardly nature — unless 

 the poor creature is either wounded or dying, and can offer no resistance. 



His family are spread all over the world, but are more abundant in hot 

 countries than in cold ones. Happily we have no vultures in England, and 

 none are w^anted. 



They are wanted in many places, for people in tropical towns and cities 

 have not very neat habits. They allow heaps of rubbish to lie about in the 

 streets, and dead creatures are thrown there in a way that would not be 

 tolerated in England. But the disagreeable vulture does not object to act as 

 a scavenger ; it is in accordance with his nature ; and he and his companions 

 busy themselves in clearing away the rubbish, that, if it were left, would soon 

 ■cause a fever. In this respect the bird is useful. 



In South America there are vast herds of wild cattle, that are the riches of 

 the inhabitants. Many of them, nay, even thousands, are driven every day 

 to the town to be killed and then salted, and packed up and sent away as an 

 article of food. Of course, this kind of business always being carried on, 

 would be very unpleasant to the inhabitants, for the streets become littered 

 all over with refuse parts of the meat. But the town is full of vultures, that 

 are as tame as domestic poultry. No one meddles with them, and they 

 employ themselves all day long in clearing away the decaying matter into 

 their own greedy maws. So that the town is kept quite neat and clean, com- 

 pared to what it would be. Here again the bird may be said to be useful. 



And in the open country, and on the mountains and sea-shore, and, 

 indeed, everywhere, are the vultures plying their trade. 



If a camel falls on the desert, or a mule in the passes of the mountains, 

 its body is not left to decay and to poison the air. As if by magic, a vulture 

 is sure to appear, and then another, and another. In an hour, nothing will 

 be left but a heap of bones, picked as clean and as bare as possible. 



The eagle sometimes condescends to preside at these feasts, and then the 

 A'ultures keep at a distance until he is satisfied. After every morsel has been 

 eaten, the vultures will be so full that they cannot rise, and can only hop 

 .along the ground. 



There is one of the family, called the white vulture, that has a great fancy 

 for the eggs of the crocodile. You would think he had ver}' little chance of 

 getting any of them, guarded as they are by the fierce mother crocodile. 



