TTIE CAUKION VII/PtRK. 



of Iheir voracity, the autlior whom we have just quoted mentions, that having wounded 

 one of them, when busily engaged on the carcase of a hippopcjtamus, tlie oricon still tore 

 off morsels of its prej'' in its attempts to escape, and was encumbered with six pounds 

 and a half of meat in its stomach. Embarrassed with this quantitj' of food, and detained 

 by its wound and its glutton}', it allowed the traveller and his attendants time to come 

 up with it, and to assail it with the butt-ends of their muskets. For a long time the bird 

 defended itself with singndar intrepidity, and seemed even to make some imjjression on the 

 barrels of the fowling-pieces. It is only, however, in such cases of emergency that it 

 disjDlays real courage ; for notwithstanding its great strength and dimensions, it is 

 naturally indolent and sluggish, seldom attacking the weakest animals, provided it can 

 gorge itself >vith their spoils, and the fragments of corruption. 



o 



THE AMERICAN, OR CARRION %T'LTl.TRE.* 



The specific designation is from the Brazilian oiiroud, so that the expression, Itcgina 

 aiirarum, or Qtweii of the Gales, applied to this species by some of the elder ornithologists, 

 proceeds on a misconcej)tion. The American vidture is blackish, with purple and green 

 reflexions ; the head and neck are red, naked, papiUous, and wrinkled. It occurs 

 throughout the continent of America ; but is more common in the warmer parts of it. In 

 Europe it mounts the Grison Alps, Silesia, Poland, and soine other countries, but not 

 Great Britain. It is also met with in Asia. Its length is about four feet and a half, and 

 its average weight, between four and five pounds. 



In other regions these birds are seen in flocks of forty or fifty, perched on the cocoa 

 trees ; for they range themselves in files to sleep together, lilce poultry ; and such is their 

 indolence, that they go to roost long before sunset, and awake not till far on in the 

 morning. In some regions of the torrid zone they haunt the towns in great multitudes, 

 as Carthagena, for example, where they perch on the roofs of the houses, or even stalk 

 along the streets, and are of infinite service to the inhabitants, as they devour all manner 

 of filth and refuse. AYlieu food fails them in the cities, they seek for it among the 

 animals of the adjoining pastures ; and if an animal is unfortunate enough to have a sore 

 on its back, thej' alight on it without ceremony, and attack the part afi'ected, nor quit 

 their hold imtil they have completed the creature's destruction. In some j)arts of South 

 America, where the hunters kill beasts merely for the skin, vast numbers of these 

 vultures follow in their train ; and were it not for their assiduous voi'acity, the many 

 flayed carcases exposed to the air would speedily generate disease. We need not 

 wonder^ therefore, that the Spanish and Portuguese dealers in hides slioidd protect 

 the carrion \Tiltures, and allow them to feed with their dogs. 



These birds likewise contribute to rejwess the midtiplication of alligators, by preying 

 on their eggs the moment they are consigned to the sand and left by the parent. Their 

 sloth, foulness, and voracity are such as almost to exceed belief. Whenever they alight 

 on a carcase which thev can tear at their ease, they leave the bones as if tliev had been 

 scraped with a knife, and they often continue feeding till they are incapable of flight. 

 On the pressure of danger, however, they have been known to rid themselves of a 

 burdened stomach by disgorging. In the month of October the female of this sjiecies 

 lays two white eggs, slightly .spotted with red. The young, on their exclusion, are 

 covered w^-th a white dowoi, and their eyes are closed. The nest consists of an artle.ss 

 excavation in the gromid, or of brushwood, on the borders of forests, without any regidar 

 distribution of materials. 



* V. Ain-a. Linn. 



