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Le Vaillant, by whom it was first described. The animated 

 account given by that author of the manner in which these 

 gi*eat viiltui'es descend upon theii- prey in the South African 

 deserts, lias been so fi-equently transcribed that I will not here 

 repeat it, but wiU rather extract fi-om the Naumannia for 1852, 

 an account of a similar scene obseiTed north of the Equator, at 

 Kartum in Senaar, by that enterprising traveller, the late Dr. 

 Eichard Yierthaler, who thus describes what he then wit- 

 nessed: — '' In order not to waste the time dui-ing our compul- 

 sory stay here * * * we arranged a vultui'e hunt * * * 

 Being in want of larger carrion we made use of a fi'eshly shot 

 dog, which here perfectly sufficed, since one need not wait 

 very long for its decomposition; a carcase of the size of a 

 middle-sized dog diies, under a sim such as there is in this 

 place, perfectly hard in one or two days. Scarcely had the 

 can-ion been placed in an open part, provided with a good 

 hiding place, when hosts of parasites (Milvus forskaliij and 

 small vultm-es f Neophron percnopterus and pileatusj swarmed 

 around it, some croaking ravens fCorvus scapulatusj traversed 

 the air, and the Maribus were caiitiously approaching. The 

 animals must have been exceedingly hungry to-day, for they 

 soon began with their first business to tear out the eyes from 

 their sockets. * * * Looking quietly on this scene at a 

 distance, a scene with which I have been long familiar, I 

 waited for the moment when the fii'st big vulture would dart 

 down. Le Vaillant's supposition that the great vultm-es do 

 not detect carrion by thcii- organ of smell, but by then- sight, 

 and only then each time descend when the smaller ones are 

 already occupied with their meal, is very uncertain, and might 

 just as well be attributed to their great cautiousness and 

 timidity, and this seems to me the more probable since the 

 great vultures, almost without exception, do not seek their 

 feeding places till mid-day, because there are less people to be 

 found then, on account of the bm-ning sun, than at any other 

 time of the day. Besides one finds that, at Kartiim, the great 



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