THE VULTURE. 



ether animals the place where she deposits 

 her burden: in the mean time, a number of 

 Vultures, or galinassos, as the Spaniards call 

 them, sit silent and unseen in the branches of 

 Some neighbouring forest, and view the cro- 

 codile's operations, with the pleasing expec- 

 tation of succeeding plunder. They patiently 

 wait till the crocodile has laid the whole 

 number of her eggs, till she has covered them 

 carefully under the sand, and until she is re- 

 tired from them to a convenient distance. 

 Then, all together, encouraging each other 

 with cries, they pour down upon the nest, 

 hook up the sand in a moment, lay the eggs 

 bare, and devour the whole brood without re- 

 morse. Wretched as is the flesh of these 

 animals, yet men, perhaps when pressed by 

 hunger, have been tempted to taste it. No- 

 thing can be more lean, stringy, nauseous, 

 and unsavoury. It is in vain that, when kill- 

 ed, the rump has been cut off; in vain the 

 body has been washed, and spices used to 

 overpower its prevailing odour; it still smells 

 and tastes of the carrion by which it was nou- 

 rished, and sends forth a stench that is insup- 

 portable. 



These birds, at least those of Europe, usu- 

 ally lay two eggs at a time, and produce but 

 once a year. They make their nests in inac- 

 cessible cliffs, and in places so remote, that 

 it is rare to find them. Those in our part of 

 the world chiefly reside in the places where 

 they breed, and seldom come down into the 

 plains, except when the snow and ice, in 

 their native retreats, has banished all living 

 animals but themselves: they then come from 

 their heights, and brave the perils they must 

 encounter in a more cultivated region. As 

 carrion is not found, at those seasons, in suf- 

 ficient quantity, or sufficiently remote from 

 man to sustain them, they prey upon rabbits, 

 hares, serpents, and whatever small game 

 they can overtake or overpower. 



Such are the manners of this bird in gene- 



ral ; but there is one of the kind, called the 

 King of the Vultures, which, from its extra- 

 ordinary figure, deserves a separate descrip- 

 tion. This bird is a native of America, and 

 not of the East Indies, as those who make a 

 trade of showing birds would induce us to 

 believe. This bird is larger than a turkey- 

 cock; but is chiefly remarkable for the odd 

 formation of the skin of the head and neck, 

 which is bare. This skin arises frcin the 

 base of the bill, and is of an orange colour; 

 from whence it stretches on each side to the 

 head ; from thence it proceeds, like an indent- 

 ed comb, and falls on either side, according 

 to the motion of the head. The eyes are sur- 

 rounded by a red skin, of a scarlet colour;, 

 and the iris has the colour and lustre of pearl. 

 The head and neck are without feathers, co- 

 vered with a flesh-coloured skin on the up- 

 per part, a fine scarlet behind the head, and 

 a duskier coloured skin before: farther down, 

 behind the head, arises a little tuft of black 

 down, from whence issues and extends be- 

 neath the throat, on each side, a wrinkled 

 skin, of a brownish colour, mixed with blue, 

 and reddish behind: below, upon the naked 

 part of the neck, is a collar formed by soft 

 longish feathers, of a deep ash-colour, which 

 surround the neck, and cover the breast be- 

 fore. Into this collar the bird sometimes 

 withdraws its whole neck, and sometimes a 

 part of its head, so that it looks as if it had 

 withdrawn the neck into the body. Those 

 marks are sufficient to distinguish this bird 

 from all others of the vulture kind ; and it 

 cannot be doubted, but that it is the most 

 beautiful of all this deformed family : however, 

 neither its habits nor instincts vary from the 

 rest of the tribe ; being like them a slow cow- 

 ardly bird, living chiefly upon rats, lizards, 

 and serpents; and upon carrion or excrement, 

 when it happens to be in the way. The flesh 

 is so bad, that even savages themselves can- 

 not abide it. 



