}3ciptilar Oifttoiiari) of ftmrnatrtr $aturr. 727 



a lodgment upon its prey, it rarely quits the 

 banquet while a morsel of flesh remains, BO 

 thut it is not uncommou to see it perched 



IFFON VOLTURI.- (VOI.TOR FDLVOB.) 



upon a putrefying body for several succes- 

 sive days. It never atternpts to carry off a 

 portion even to satisfy its young, but feeds 

 them by disgorging the half-digested morsel 

 from its maw. 



The SOCIABLE VULTURE. (Vultur aurteu- 

 laris.) This is a gigantic species, inhabiting 

 the greater part of Africa, and said by some 

 naturalists to be also found in Greece. Its 

 head and greater portion of the neck are red 

 and naked, the folds of red naked skin ori- 

 ginating behind the ears, and surrounding 

 the upper part of them: the throat is covered 

 with blackish hairs, and the lower and back 

 part of the neck clothed with a ruff of black- 

 ish curling feathers. The plumage of the 



(VOI/TOR AORIOOLAHIS.) 



body, wings, and tail arc of a blackish-brown 

 colour, rather lighter beneath than above ; 

 feathers of the breast, belly, and sides be- 

 neath, narrow, long, pointed, projecting from 

 the body so as to discover the nearly pure 

 white down which everywhere closely covers 

 it, and extends beyond the feathers on the 



lower and anterior parts of the neck. Legs 

 brownish ; claws light brown. In size the 

 Sociable Vulture is equal to the Condor, 

 measuring upwards of ten feet across the 

 wings expanded. The nest is built in the 

 fissures or rocks, and the female generally 

 lays two, sometimes three eggs. During the 

 period of incubation the male keeps watch 

 at the entrance of the cave. 



It has been observed of this gigantic pe- 

 cies, that it is " a fit machine for assisting in 

 the clearance of the soil of Africa from the 

 putrid bodies of elephants, hippopotami, 

 rhinoceroses, and giraffes, that it haunts the 

 caverns of rocks, and is altogether a moun- 

 tain bird. There its night is passed, and 

 there, among the lofty crags, it retires to re- 

 pose when it has sated its appetite. Le Vail- 

 lant saw large flocks of them perched at sun- 

 rise on the precipitous entrances to their 

 abodes, and sometimes the extent of the 

 rocky region was marked by a continued 

 chain of these birds. Their tails are worn 

 down by friction against their craggy haunts 

 and by the soil of the plains, in consequence 

 of the laborious efforts which they make to 

 raise themselves into the air : when once on 

 the wing, however, their flight is grand and 

 powerful. They rise higher and higher, till 

 their enormous bulk is lost to human ken ; 

 but though beyond the sphere of man's 

 vision, the telescopic eye of the bird is at 

 work. The moment any animal sinks to 

 the earth in death, the imperceptible Vul- 

 ture detects it. Does the hunter bring down 

 some large quadruped beyond his powers to 

 remove, and leave it to obtain assistance ? 

 on his return, however speedy, he finds it 

 surrounded by a band of Vultures, where 

 not one was to be seen a quarter of an hour 

 before." 



The EOTPTIAW VULTURE. (.Neophron 

 pcrcnopterus.) The Egyptian Neophron, 

 which has also been denominated Pharaoh's 

 Chicken, is the smallest of the Vulture tribe; 

 its natural habitation, the shores of the 

 Mediterranean Sea. The adult has the front 

 of the head, the upper part of the throat 

 and cere naked, and of a bright yellow. 

 The plumage is altogether of a pure white, 

 with the exception of the quill feathers, 

 which are black : legs, feet, and base of the 

 bill yellow ; point of the bill, black. There 

 is scarcely any difference in the colouring 

 and plumage in the adults of both sexes. 

 The young of the year are of a deep brown, 

 slightly spotted with lighter brown and white, 

 and do not attain their adult plumage for 

 two or three years. 



In our description of the Bearded Vulture 

 we entered rather fully on the often-dis- 

 cussed question of the very acute sense of 

 smelling which has been attributed to birds 

 of the Vulture tribe. Before we quit the 

 subject, it may be proper to mention that 

 A minium, in his ' Birds of America,' insists 

 on it that it is the organs of sight, and not 

 those of smelling, that enables Vultures and 

 other birds of prey to discover carcases at 

 such immense distances as they are said to 

 do. We quote from him the following pas- 

 sage : "We were led to call in question the 



