BLACK VULTURE. 19 



perpetuated this slander, which is so absurd, that we wonder how it could 

 have escaped his animadversion. 



" It would be too great an undertaking," says Ulloa, " to desci'ibe all 

 the extraordinary birds that inhabit this country ; but I cannot refrain 

 from taking notice of that to which they give the name of Gallinazo, 

 from the resemblance it has to the Turkey-hen. This bird is of the size 

 of the Pea-hen, but its head and neck are somewhat larger. From the 

 crop to the base of the bill there are no feathers ; and the skin, which 

 is of a brownish black color, is wrinkled and rough, and covered with 

 small warts and tubercles. The plumage of the bird is also black. The 

 bill is well proportioned, strong, and a little hooked. These birds are 

 familiar in Carthagena, the tops of the houses are covered with them. 

 They are very serviceable, in cleansing the city of all its animal impuri- 

 ties. There are few animals killed whereof they do not obtain the 

 offals ; and when this food is wanting, they have recourse to other filth. 

 Their sense of smelling is so acute, that it enables them to trace carrion 

 at the distance of three or four leagues ; which they do not abandon until 

 there remains nothing but the skeleton. 



" The great number of these birds found in such hot climates, is an 

 excellent provision of nature ; as otherwise, the putrefaction caused by 

 the constant and excessive heat, would render the air insupportable to 

 human life. When first they take wing, they fly heavily ; but afterwards 

 they rise so high as to be entirely invisible. On the ground they walk 

 sluggishly. Their legs are well proportioned ; they have three toes for- 

 ward, turning inwards, and one in the inside, inclining a little backwards, 

 so that the feet interfering, they cannot walk with any agility, but are 

 obliged to hop ; each toe is furnished with a long and stout claw. 



" When the Gallinazos are deprived of carrion, or food in the city, 

 they are driven by hunger among the cattle of the pastures. If they 

 see a beast with a sore on the back, they alight on it, and attack the 

 part affected ; and it avails not that the poor animal throws itself upon 

 the ground, and endeavors to intimidate them with its bellowing : they 

 do not quit their hold !* and by means of their bill they so soon enlarge 

 the wound, that the animal finally becomes their prey."t 



The account, from the same author, of the beneficial effects resulting 



* The faculty of prehension, which is possessed, in a remark.able degree, by the 

 whole of the FaUo tribe, but slightly appertains to Vultures, as is evidenced by 

 their feet and claws ; hence all the stories which are related, of their seizing upon 

 their prey, and bearing it off in their talons, are apocryphal. We would extend this 

 remark to the far-famed Condor, whose history has been embellished with feats of 

 strength, not a little allied to the marvellous. 



t Voyage Ilistorique de I'Am^rique M6ridionale, par Don George Juan, et Don 

 Antoine De Ulloa, liv. I., chap, viii., p. 52. A Amsterdam et k Leipzig, 1752, 

 quarto. 



