604 REPTILES AND BIRDS. 
Condors do not assemble in flocks except when devouring an 
animal of great size. The hen bird lays a couple of eggs in a 
crevice on the mountains or cliffs; nest-building they entirely disregard. 
The rearing of the young requires several months ; the parent birds 
feed them by disgorging into their bills the food which they have 
stored in their crops. All the Vulture tribe do the same. 
The Condor is tamed with difficulty ; captivity seems only to 
increase its savage nature. Humboldt kept one at Quito for eight 
days, and he states that to approach it was always dangerous. 
The King Vulture (Sarcoramphus papa, Fig. 282) is distinguished 
from the Condor by the collar or ruff which surrounds the neck being 
slate colour, and also by its orange crest, situated on the top of the 
bill. Instead of confining itself to arid and barren localities, it 
frequents plains and wooded hills, and nests in the hollows of old 
trees. Its habits are, however, very much the same as those of the 
condor. It has been named the King of the Vultures because the 
other species dread it, as it appropriates their prey. It is found in 
Mexico, Guiana, Peru, Brazil, and Paraguay, and occasionally in 
Florida, doubtless its most northern habitat. In this species the 
female has a crest as well as the male. 
The genus Catharfa has a long and elongated bill; the head and 
neck bare; the nostrils oblong and pierced through; the wings 
obtuse, and reaching a little beyond the tail. There are three 
species : the Urubu and the Turkey Buzzard, natives of America, and 
the Alpine Vulture, or Pharaoh’s Hen of Bruce, peculiar to the Old 
World. 
The Urubu (Vultur atratus, Fig. 283), is the size of a small 
Turkey. Its plumage, of a brilliant black, gives it a somewhat dismal 
look, which is amply justified by its disgusting habits. This bird is 
of a sociable nature, and is always met with in numerous flocks. 
Like all birds which subsist on decomposed animal matter, it is the 
constant guest of man, and accompanies him in all his wanderings 
through its habitat. In nearly all the large towns of South America 
it has acquired rights of citizenship, where it may be seen almost in 
a domestic state, and multiplying under the protection of the laws. 
In Peru the inhabitants are interdicted from killing a Urubu under 
penalty of ten pounds. The same prohibition exists in Jamaica. 
This will easily be understood when it is explained that in these 
countries the Urubus perform the whole duty of cleansing the public 
streets from all kinds of filth and garbage, which, under the influence 
of a tropical sun, would certainly infect the air and engender con- 
tinual epidemics. These birds, officiating as public scavengers, 
