BIRDS OF PREY. 



smell erroneously attributed to these birds. If the object dis- 

 covered be large, lately dead, and covered with a skin too tough 

 to be torn asunder, they remain about it, or linger in the vicinity, 

 perched on the dead branches of high trees. In this conspicuous 

 position they are easily seen by other vultures, who through habit 

 well know the meaning of such stoppages, and join the first flock. 

 Around the spot they remain, some of them from time to time 

 examining the dead body, giving it a tug in those parts most 

 accessible, until they find its putridity sufficiently advanced. The 

 accumulated number then fall to work, exhibiting a most dis- 

 gusting picture of famished voracity, the strongest driving off the 

 weakest, and the latter harassing the former with all the animo- 

 sity that a disappointed hungry stomach can excite. They may 

 then be seen jumping off the carcase, re-attacking it, entering it, 

 and wrestling for portions partly swallowed by two or more of 

 them ; hissing at a furious rate, and every moment clearing their 

 nostrils from the filth that enters there and stops their breathing. 

 The carcase is soon reduced to a mere skeleton, no portion of it 

 being now too tough to be torn apart and swallowed, so that 

 nothing is left but the bare bones. The repast finished, the gorged 

 vultures slowly fly to the highest branches of the nearest trees, 

 and remain there until the full digestion of all the food they have 

 swallowed is completed. This takes, oftentimes, more than a day, 

 but at length successively, and very often singly, each vulture is 

 seen to depart. 



The type of this sub-family — 



The Arabian Vulture {Viiliin- vionaclius) measures about four feet in 

 length, and the extent of its wings is proportionately wide ; nevertheless, in 

 spite of its large size and great muscular strength, it is not a dangerous neigh- 

 bour even to the farmer ; for unless pressed by hunger, it seems to have a 

 dread of living animals, and contents itself with feeding upon any carrion 

 that may come in its way. 



The specific name of 7>io!!achus, or vionk^ was given to it by Linnaeus, on 

 account of the hood-like ruff round its neck, its bald head, and the general 

 colour of its dress, much resembling the garb of the monastics formerly so 

 numerous in Arabia and Palestine. 



Its nest is built upon the most inaccessible cliffs, where it forms a flat mass 

 of sticks three or four feet in diameter. Upon this platform the female de- 

 posits two or rarely three eggs, which are white, with a faint bluish tinge. 



The range of the Arabian vulture extends over the whole of Northern Africa, 

 Arabia, Persia, India, and the more mountainous parts of the south of Europe. 



