THE UGLIEST BIRD IN THE WORLD 



MEN may differ as to which is the most 

 beautiful of the fowls of the air, but 

 there can be no two opinions as to 

 which is the ugliest bird in the world. 

 This proud distinction, I submit, indubitably belongs 

 to the white scavenger vulture {Neophron ginginianus), 

 better known as " Pharaoh's chicken." Naturalists vie 

 with one another in calling the creature names. " Eha " 

 stigmatizes it as " that foul bird." Colonel Cunningham 

 grows quite eloquent in his abuse of the Neophron tribe. 

 According to him, they are " truly * base and degrading ' 

 objects " ; " any close acquaintance with them," he 

 writes, "and specially a near view of them, as they 

 wander about over heaps of rubbish in quest of their 

 loathsome food, can only tend to arouse a sense of 

 wonder that any birds should have succeeded in be- 

 coming so repulsive. St. Beuve, in writing of Talley- 

 rand, affirms that " it takes a great deal of trouble to 

 become wholly depraved," but Neophrons have certainly 

 spared no effort to attain that end. Perhaps the 

 question will be asked : " Why discourse upon this 

 unlovely bird ? " 



Let me answer it in anticipation. Firstly, the creature 



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