224 WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA 



neck, and appears like an oblong caruncle, is blue 

 in part, and part orange. 



The bill is orange and black, the caruncles on 

 his forehead orange, and the cere orange; the 

 orbits scarlet, and the irides white. Below the 

 bare part of the neck there is a cinereous ruff. 

 The bag of the stomach, which is only seen when 

 distended with food, is of a most delicate white, 

 intersected with blue veins, which appear on it 

 just like the blue veins on the arm of a fair- 

 complexioned person. 



The tail and long wing-feathers are black, the 

 belly white, and the rest of the body a fine satin 

 colour. 



I cannot be persuaded that the vultures ever 

 feed upon live animals, not even upon lizards, 

 rats, mice, or frogs; I have watched them for 

 hours together, but never could see them touch 

 any living animals, though innumerable lizards, 

 frogs, and small birds swarmed all around them. 

 I have killed lizards and frogs, and put them in a 

 proper place for observation; as soon as they 

 began to stink, the Aura vulture invariably came 

 and took them off. I have frequently observed, 

 that the day after the planter had burnt the trash 

 in a cane-field, the aura vulture was sure to be 

 there, feeding on the snakes, lizards, and frogs 

 which had suffered in the conflagration. I often 

 saw a large bird (very much like the common 

 gregarious vulture at a distance) catch and de- 

 vour lizards; after shooting one, it turned out to 

 be not a vulture, but a hawk, with a tail squarer 

 and shorter than hawks have in general. The 

 vultures, like the goatsucker and woodpecker, 



