26 BLACK VULTURE. 



with some curling hairs. They fly so high, that although they 

 are pretty large, they are lost to the sight; and especially before 

 a hail storm they will be seen wheeling, in vast numbers 

 under the loftiest clouds, till they entirely disappear. They 

 feed upon carrion, which they discover by the acuteness of their 

 sight and smell, from the greatest height, and descend upon it 

 with a majestic flight, in a great spiral course. They are both 

 almost mute. The two species are distinguished, however, by 

 their size, their colour, their numbers, and some other peculi- 

 arities. The Zopilots, properly so called, have black feathers^ 

 with a brown head, bill, and feet; they go often in flocks, and 

 roost together upon trees. This species is very numerous, and 

 is to be found in all the different climates; while on the contrary, 

 the Cozcaquauhtli is far from numerous, and is peculiar to the 

 warmer climates alone.* The latter bird is larger than the Zo- 

 pilot, has a red head and feet, with a beak of a deep red colour, 

 except towards its extremity, which is white. Its feathers are 

 brown, except upon the neck and parts about the breast, which 

 are of a reddish black. The wings are of an ash colour upon the 

 inside, and upon the outside are variegated with black and 

 tawny. 



"The Cozcaquauhtli is called by the Mexicans, King of the 

 Zopilots -/t and they say, that when these two species happen to 

 meet together about the same carrion, the Zopilot never begins 

 to eat till the Cozcaquauhtli has tasted it. The Zopilot is a most 

 useful bird to that country, for they not only clear the fields, 

 but attend the crocodiles, and destroy the eggs which the females 

 of those dreadful amphibious animals leave in the sand, to be 

 hatched by the heat of the sun. The destruction of such a bird 

 ought to be prohibited under severe penalties.'^ 



"The Jota ( Vulturjota}" says the abbe Molina, " resembles 

 much the J^ura, a species of vulture, of which there is perhaps 



* This is a mistake. 



f This is the Vultur aura. The bird which now goes by the name of King of 

 the Zoi>ilols, in New Spain, is the Vullur papa of Linnaeus. 

 \ Clavig-ero's Mexico, translated by Cullen, vol. i, p. 47, London. 



