HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



the upper mandible is almost seven inches ; 

 and the tail twenty-seven in length. The 

 lower part of the neck, breast, and belly, are 

 of a red colour ; but on the tail it is more 

 faint, and deeper near the head. The feathers 

 are black on the back ; and on the wings and 

 tail of a yellowish brown. Others of the kind 

 differ from this in colour and dimensions ; but 

 they are all strongly marked by their naked 

 heads, and beak, straight in the beginning, 

 but hooking at the point. 



They are still more strongly marked by 

 their nature, which, as has been observed, is 

 cruel, unclean, and indolent. Their sense of 

 smelling, however, is amazingly great ; and 

 Nature, for this purpose, has given them two 

 large apertures or nostrils without, and an ex- 

 tensive olfactory membrane within. 1 Their 



In the plates we have given representations of several 

 vultures. Fig. 1. plate XV. represents the Griffon Vul- 

 ture, one of the largest birds of prey of the old contin- 

 ent, measuring from 3| to 4 feet in length. It inhabits 

 the mountain chains of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Fig. 1. 

 plate XVI. represents the King of the vultures, described 

 in the text. Fig. 9. represents the Bearded Vulture, a 

 bird which seems to form a link between the vulture and 

 the eagle, as it seeks living prey as well as carrion. It 

 is the Lemmergeyer of the Swiss and German Alps, and 

 the largest European bird of prey, measuring upwards 

 of four feet from beak to tail, and nine or ten in the ex- 

 panse of its wings. Fig. 3. same plate, represents the 

 Secretary Vulture, so called from the pen-like appendage 

 behind the ear. 



1 Is it by the powers of sight cr of smell that these 

 birds, afar off in the air above, or on the very verge of the 

 horizon, are thus led to their booty? This is a question 

 not yet settled. The ancient classic writers teem with 

 passages attributing to the vulture a keen and discrimi- 

 nating scent; and certainly the development of the or- 

 gans of this sense would seem to favour the opinion, 

 which is supported by Mr Waterton and others, but 

 which Mr Audubon considers to be erroneous. This 

 latter observer of Nature maintains that it is by the ex- 

 traordinary powers of sight that the vulture perceives his 

 prey, and Le Vaillant explains the circumstance upon 

 the same theory. " Desirous," he says, " of observing 

 how so great a number of vultures could congregate to- 

 gether in so short a space of time, I concealed myself 

 one day in a thicket, after having killed a large gazelle, 

 which I left upon the spot. In an instant a number of 

 ravens made their appearance, fluttering about the ani- 

 mal, and making a great croaking. In less than a quar- 

 ter of an hour these birds were reinforced by the arrival 

 of kites and buzzards; and immediately afterwards I 

 perceived, on raising my head, a flight of birds at a pro- 

 digious height, wheeling round and round in their des- 

 cent. These I soon recognised to be vultures, which 

 seemed, if I may so express myself, to escape from a ca- 

 vern in the sky. The first comers fell immediately upon 

 the gazelle, but I did not allow them time to tear it in 

 pieces. I left my concealment, and they betook them- 

 selves slowly and heavily to flight, rejoining their com- 

 rades, whose numbers seemed to increase. They seemed 

 almost to precipitate themselves from the clouds to share 

 the spoil, but my presence caused them speedily to dis- 

 appear. Thus it is then, that the vultures are called 

 upon to participate in their prey: the first carnivorous 

 birds that discover a carcase rouse the others which may 

 happen to be in the environs by their cries and by their 



intestines are formed differently from those of 

 the eagle kind ; for they partake more of the 

 formation of such birds as live upon grain. 

 They have both a crop and a stomach ; which 

 may be regarded as a kind of gizzard, from 

 the extreme thickness of the muscles of which 

 it is composed. In fact, they seem adapted 

 inwardly, not only for being carnivorous, but 

 to eat corn or whatsoever of that kind comes 

 in the way. 



This bird, which is common in many parts 

 of Europe, and but too well known on the 

 western continent, is totally unknown in Eng- 

 land. In Egypt, Arabia, and many other 

 kingdoms of Africa and Asia, vultures are 

 found in great abundance. The inside down 

 of their wing is converted into a very warm 

 and comfortable kind of fur, and is commonly 

 sold in the Asiatic markets. 



Indeed, in Egypt, this bird seems to be of 

 singular service. There are great flocks of 

 them in the neighbourhood of Grand Cairo, 

 which no person is permitted to destroy. The 

 service they render the inhabitants is the de- 

 vouring of all the carrion and filth of that 

 great city ; which might otherwise tend to 

 corrupt and putrefy the air. They are com- 

 monly seen in company with the wild dogs of 

 the country, tearing a carcase very deliberate- 

 ly together. This old association produced 

 no quarrels ; the birds and quadrupeds seem 

 to live amicably, and nothing but harmony 

 subsists between them. The wonder is still 

 the greater, as both are extremely rapacious, 

 and both lean and bony to a very great de- 

 gree ; probably having no great plenty even 

 of the wretched food on which they subsist. 



In America they lead a life somewhat si- 

 milar. Wherever the hunters, who there 

 only pursue beasts for the skins, are found to 

 go, these birds are seen to pursue them. They 

 still keep hovering at a little distance ; and 



motions. If the nearest vulture does not spy his prey 

 from the lofty region of the air in which he swims by 

 means of his wide-spread wings, he perceives at least the 

 subaltern and more terrestrial birds of prey preparing to 

 take possession of it; but perhaps he has himself a suffi- 

 cient power of vision to enable him to Discover it. He 

 descends hastily and with a wheeling flight, and his fall 

 directs the other vultures who witness his evolutions, 

 and who no doubt have their instinct sharpened with re- 

 gard to everything that concerns their food. A con- 

 course of carnivorous birds speedily takes place in the 

 neighbourhood of the carcass sufficient to attract the 

 vultures of the whole district, nearly in the same man- 

 ner as the disturbance created by a number of men run- 

 ning along the streets of a crowded town attracts the 

 whole population to follow in their train." Notwith- 

 standing all this, and the experiments of Mr Audubor,, 

 we do not think the conclusion by any means demon- 

 strated, that the vulture is not guided by his scent, as 

 well as by his powers of vision, according as the c:fu>3 

 may be. 



