88 HISTORY Or 



CHAPTER XL 



OF THE VULTURE, AND ITS AFFINITIES. 



THE first rank in the description of birds has 

 been given to the eagle, not because it is stronger 

 or larger than the vulture, but because it is more 

 generous and bold. The eagle, unless pressed 

 by famine, will not stoop to carrion ; and never 

 devours but what he has earned by his own pur- 

 suit. The vulture, on the contrary, is indelicate- 

 ly voracious, and seldom attacks living animals, 

 when it can be supplied with the dead. The 

 eagle meets and singly opposes his enemy ; the 

 vulture, if it expects resistance, calls in the aid 

 of its kind, and basely overpowers its prey by a 

 cowardly combination. Putrefaction and stench, 

 instead of deterring, only serve to allure them. 

 The vulture seems among birds what the jackall 

 and hyaena are among quadrupeds, who prey 

 upon carcasses, and root up the dead. 



Vultures may be easily distinguished from all 

 those of the eagle kind, by the nakedness of their 

 heads and necks, which are without feathers, and 

 only covered with a very slight down, or a few 

 scattered hairs. Their eyes are more prominent, 

 those of the eagle being buried more in the socket. 

 Their claws are shorter and less hooked. The 

 inside of the wing is covered with a thick down, 

 which is different in them from all other birds of 

 prey. Their attitude is not so upright as that 



