JOHN-CROW VULTURE. 7 



him, perhaps attracted by the smell of the carrion 

 which the dog had been devouring, and began 

 tearing the muscles of the thigh : it actually laid 

 open a considerable space, before the poor animal 

 was aroused by the pain and started up with a 

 howl of agony. The wound was dressed, but the 

 dog soon died. 



A notion is very prevalent, that the Vulture 

 refuses the flesh of its own kind ; or that if there 

 ever be an exception, it is only when the stomach 

 of the dead bird is filled with carrion. This I have 

 proved to be unfounded. I shot one in August, 

 the body of which I threw out; in a very few 

 minutes it was surrounded by others, and the bones 

 picked clean, though the stomach was nearly empty, 

 and the body had no odour of carrion. 



" The Aura Vultures," says Mr. Hill, are often 

 to be observed soaring in companies, particularly 

 previous to a thunder-storm. This occurrence is 

 commonly remarked, because at almost all other 

 times this species is seen solitary, or, at most, scour- 

 ing the country in pairs. They appear to delight 

 in the hurly-burly of transient squalls, gathering 

 together, and sweeping round in oblique circles, 

 as the fitful gust favours them with an opportunity 

 of rising through the blast, or winging onwards 

 through the misty darkness of the storm. The 

 effect which this imparts to a tropical landscape at 

 a time when thick clouds are upon the mountains, 

 and all vegetation is bending beneath the sudden 

 rush of the tempest, as gust gathers louder and 

 louder, is particularly wild and exciting. Ordi- 



