54 Tin^ TEATIIERED TRIBES. 



"Watcrton states, that wliile sailing up the Esscquibo, he observed a pair of king 

 vultures sitting on the naked branch of a tree, with about a dozen of the common species, 

 waiting to begin the feast on a goat which a jaguar had killed the day before and been 

 obliged to abandon ; but though tolerating the company of its inferiors, the royal bird 

 appeared to guard its privileges with jealous care. 



On another occasion, the same distinguished natiu'alist directed the body of a serpent 

 he had killed to be carried into a neighbouring forest, that it might tempt one of 

 these creatures, and that he might watch the result. " The foKage of the trees," he says, 

 " where we laid the serpent, was impervious to the sun's rays ; and had any vultures 

 passed over that part of tlie forest, I think I may say with safet}- that they could not 

 have seen the remains of the serpent through the shade. For the tirst two days, not a 

 vulture made its aj)pearance at the spot, though I could see, here and there, as usual, a 

 vulture gliding on apparently immovable pinions, at a moderate height, over the tops of 

 the forest trees. But dui'ing the afternoon of the third daj% when the carcase of the 

 serjient had got into a state of putrefaction, more than twenty of the common vultures 

 came and perched upon the neighbouring trees, and the next morning, a little after six 

 o'clock, I saw a magnificent king of the vidtures. There was a stupendous wurra tree 

 close by, whose topmost branch had either been dried by time or blasted by^ the thunder- 

 storm. Upon this branch I killed the king of the vultures, before it had descended to 

 partake of the savoury food which had attracted it to the place. Soon after this, another 

 king of the vultures came, and after he had stuffed himself almost to sutlbcation the rest 

 pounced down on the remains of the serpent, and stayed there till they had devoured the 

 last morsel." 



THE AURICl'MTED \T.1,TURE * 



has the neck naked ; the sldn of the ears elongated, and the general plumage bro^m. 

 Tliis si^ecies takes its name from the remarkable projection of the skin round the ears, 

 and which is also continued to some little distance down the neck on each side. It is a 

 very large bird, being three feet high, and measuring ten feet from ti]! to tij) of the 

 outstretched wings. Its general colour is brown ; but the throat is black, and covered 

 with c(jarse hairs. It is a native of the southei'u parts of Africa and of the East Indies ; 

 and contrary to the natiu'e of the fiercer birds of prey, it is of a gregarious disposition, 

 being often seen in large flocks, and sitting in great numbers about the caverns of rocky 

 mountains, in which it breeds. The nests, too, are often placed veiy neai' one anotlier, 

 each generally containing two, and sometimes three eggs of a white colour, and not 

 disagreeable to the taste. 



During intubation, (he male watclies before the entrance of the cavern in wliieh the 

 female sits, and nuiy be regarded as a certain indication of the nest; but this last is 

 usually of very difficidt access. "However," says Levaillant, "I have sometimes, with 

 the aid of my Hottentots, surmnunted all difliculfies, and often risked my life, that I 

 might examine the eggs of this bird, whose retreat is a sink of disgusting polhition, and 

 contaminated by an insupportable odour. It is the more dangerous to approacli tliese 

 obscure recesses, because their entrance is beset witli filth, and (his always in a li(iuid 

 stale, by reason of the moisture produced by the water whieli ineess:intlv oozes iri>m tlic 

 rocks, so that, by sliding on the points of these rocks, one runs the lia/ard lA' (mnbliiio- 

 over hideous precipices, on tlie top of wliieli the oricoiis preferably establisli (lifir 

 abodes." 



At sunrise, flocks of tliese birds may be seen perelied at tlie enfiy of (licir gloomv 

 habitation, and sometimes studding at intervals an entire mountain lange. As an iiijstance 



* V. Aiiiiculiuis. Lulh. iVc. 



