414 



FAMILY VULTCRID.E ; VULTURES. 



could perform ; for although the Hyasnas and Jackals may well 

 effect the removal of decomposing carcases from the open and 

 level country, the dense and tangled forests of tropical regions, 

 and the almost perpendicular sides of their Alpine ranges, would 

 prove inaccessible to any animals not endowed with the power 

 of flight. Vultures are Birds of enormous spread of wing, in pro- 

 portion to the weight of their bodies ; and even in walking, they 

 hold their wings half extended. Their flight is rapid when they 

 have an object in view ; but they can also hover with very little 

 effort over a spot near which they desire to remain. The bill of 

 these Birds is hooked at the point, and is straight at the base ; 

 their talons are by no means large or strong in proportion to 



the size of the body, and they 

 are less used than the beak for 

 tearing the food. The cha- 

 racter by which they are 

 chiefly distinguished from all 

 other Birds of Prey, is the 

 absence of feathers on the head 

 and neck (Fig. 218) ; whilst 

 round the bottom of the latter 

 is a sort of ruff of soft or 

 slender feathers, arising from 

 a loose fold of skin, within 

 which they can withdraw the 

 neck, and even the greatest 

 part of the head, while they 

 remain in a semi-torpid state, motionless as statues, during the 

 digestion of their meal. Their whole plumage is deficient in the 

 neat and regular appearance of that of the Falconidee ; but it 

 offers so much resistance, as to be almost impenetrable to shot ; 

 and it suffers so little from exposure to alternations of weather, 

 that Vultures in confinement frequently wash themselves 

 thoroughly and hang out their wings to the sun and air to be 

 dried. In these characters and instincts we see an evident adapt- 

 ation to the mode of life of the Birds which manifest them ; 

 for the nakedness of their necks and tarsi prevents these parts 



FIG. 218. TAWNY VULTURE. 



