196 - /THE VULTURE. 



propensities, nt Grand Cairo not one of them is suf- 

 fered to be killed, as they devour all the carrion and 

 filth of the city, 'which would otherwise corrupt and 

 taint the air : they are generally attended by the wild 

 dogs of the country, who share without contention 

 their putrid prey. 



Though the vulture permits the wild dogs to become 

 participators oi' their plunder, no two animals are at 

 greater enmity with each other than the vulture of Brasil 

 and the crocodile : The female of this amphibious crea- 

 ture grows in that part of the world to the size of 

 twenty-seven feet, and lays to the number of one or 

 two hundred eggs in the sand by the side of the rivers, 

 and covers them up with the greatest precaution, when 

 the intense heat of the sun supplies the want of mater- 

 nal care. During this period the vultures in large bo- 

 dies regard their motions ; and as soon as she has com- 

 pleted her business, and retired to the refreshing cool- 

 ness of the stream, they alight upon the spot; where 

 the eggs had been concealed, scratch away the cover- 

 ing maternal solicitude had placed, and greedily devour 

 the whole of her brood. 



These birds, at least those of Europe, seldom lay more 

 than two eggs at a time, and that only once a year; they 

 make their nests in the most inaccessible cliffs, and in 

 places so remote that it is difficult to find them out. 



Such are the habits of this bird in general : but there 

 is one of the kind called the king of the vultures, which 

 I cannot pass over in silence ; it is a native of America, 

 and not of the East Indies, as some persons have errone- 

 ously supposed : the size of it exceeds that of the 

 Turkey cock, but it is chiefly remarkable for the odd 

 formation of the skin which covers the head and neck; 

 this skin arises from the base of the bill of an orancc- 



