16 



THE KING VULTURE. 



would attract the king of the Vultures, as soon as time should have rendered it sufficiently 

 savory. In a few days it sent forth the odor which a carcase should send forth, and about 

 twenty of the common Vultures came and perched on the neighboring trees. The king of the 

 Vultures came too, and I observed that none of the common ones seemed inclined to begin 

 breakfast until his majesty had finished. When he had consumed as much snake as nature 

 informed him would do him good, he retired to the top of a high mora-tree, and then all the 

 common Vultures fell to and made a hearty meal." 



The King Vulture is a native of tropical America, and is most common near the equator, 

 though it is found as far as the thirtieth degree of south latitude, and the thirty-second of 

 north latitude. Peru, Brazil, Guiana, Paraguay, and Mexico are the chosen residences of this 



KING VULTURE. Sarcorhamphug papa. 



fine species. It is a forest-loving bird, caring nothing for the lofty home of the condor, but 

 taking up its residence upon the low and heavily-wooded regions, in close proximity to 

 swampy and marshy places, where it is most likely to find abundance of dead and putrefying 

 animal substances. Its nest, or rather the spot on which it deposits its eggs, is within the 

 hollow of some decaying tree. The eggs are two in number. 



In its adult state the King Vulture is a most gorgeously decorated bird, though its gen- 

 eral aspect and the whole expression of its demeanor are rather repulsive than otherwise. 

 The greater part of the feathers upon the back are of a beautiful satiny white, tinged more or 

 less deeply with fawn, and the abdomen is of a pure white. On account of its color, the bird 

 is termed the White Crow by the Spaniards of Paraguay. The long pinions of the wing and 

 tail are deep black, and the base of the neck is surrounded with a thick ruff or collar of downy 

 gray feathers. 



