THE VUMTTRE. 69 



make an opening in the belly of the animal, from whence they pluck 

 out, and greedily devour the entrails : then entering into the hollow 

 which they have made, they separate the llesh from thn bonos, with- 

 out ever touching the skin. It often happens that an ox returning 

 home alone to its stall from the plough, lies down by the way . it is 

 then, if the vultures perceive it, that they fall with fury down, and in- 

 evitably devour the unfortunate animal. They sometimes attempt 

 them grazing in the fields; and then, to the number of a hundred, or 

 more, make their attack all at once and together." 



" They are attracted by carrion," says Catesby, " from a very great 

 distance. It is pleasant to behold them, when they are thus eating, 

 and disputing for their prey. An eagle generally presides at these 

 entertainments, and makes them all keep their distance till he has 

 done. They then fall too with an excellent appetite ; and their sense 

 of smelling is so exquisite, that the instant a carcass drops, we may 

 see the vultures floating in the air from all quarters, and come sousing 

 on their prey." It is supposed by some, that they eat nothing that 

 has life ; but 'Jus is only when they are not able ; for when they can 

 come at lambs, they show no mercy; and serpents are their ordinary 

 food. The manner of those birds is to perch themselves, several to* 

 gether, on the old pine and cypress-trees; where they continue all the 

 morning, for several hours, with their wings unfolded ; nor are they 

 fearful of danger, but suffer people to approach them very near, par- 

 ticularly when they are eating. 



The sloth, the filth, and the voraciousness of these birds, almost ex- 

 ceed credibility. In the Brasils, where they are found in great abun- 

 dance, when they light upon a carcas which they have liberty to 

 tear at their ease, they so gorge themselves that they are unable to fly ; 

 but keep hopping along when they are pursued. At all times, they 

 are a bird of slow flight, and unable readily to raise themselves from 

 the ground ; but when they have over-fed, they are then utterly help- 

 less ; but they soon get rid of their burden ; for they have a method 

 of vomiting up what they have eaten, and then they fly off with greater 

 facility. 



It is pleasant, however, to be a spectator of the hostilities between 

 animals that are thus hateful or noxious. Of all creatures, the two 

 most at enmity,are the vulture* of Brasil, and the crocodile. The fe- 

 male of this terrible amphibious creature, which in the rivers of that 

 part of the world grows to the size of twenty-seven feet, lays its eggs, 

 to the number of one or two hundred, in the sands, on the side of the 

 river, where they are hatched by the heat of the climate. For this 

 purpose, she takes every precaution to hide from all other 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 un- 

 seen, in the branches of some neighbouring forest, and view the cro- 

 codile's operations, with the pleasing expectation of succeeding plunder 

 They patiently wait till the crocodile has laid the whole number of hei 

 eggs, till she has covered them carefully under the sand, and until she 

 is retired from them to a convenient distance Then, ?J1 together, er- 

 couraging each other with cries, they pour down upon the nest, hook 

 up the sand in a moment, la) the eggs bare, and C!LVOUI the wlmle 



