1 fe) RAPTORIAL BIRDS 
head and neck fade grievously in preserved specimens) 
which bears the name of the King Vulture, an appella- 
tion given to it because the small black Vultures, 
which are its fellow denizens of the tropical parts of 
America, always abstain from attacking a carcase on 
which the King Vulture has descended, until the 
latter has satiated his royal appetite and with slowly 
flapping pinions, has winged his way to the dead limb 
of some lofty tree, where, with his crimson head and 
purple neck nestled down between the cream-coloured 
feathers of his wings and shoulders, he will patiently 
sit till the return of hunger recalls him from the 
memories of his last feast to a quest for the repast 
which shall succeed it. 
The two remaining genera, Vu/tur and Gyps, con- 
tain all the larger true Vultures of the Old World, 
some of which approach very closely in size to the 
American Condor. They are widely spread over the 
continent of Africa, and over the southern countries 
of Europe and Asia; and, like the rest of this tribe, 
subsist chiefly on abandoned carcases of animals, 
which have accidentally died, or have fallen victims to 
the pursuit of either hunters or wild beasts. One of 
these species, the Fulvous Griffon Vulture, (gyps fud- 
vus) was frequently sculptured by the ancient Egyp- 
tians on the entablatures of their temples, and is 
believed to have been held sacred by their priests, to 
one of their fabled deities, Maut, he Goddess of 
Maternity. 
