THE VULTURE. 93 X 



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 helpless ; 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 female 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 ani- 

 mals 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 unseen, 

 in the branches of some neighbouring forest, and 

 view the crocodile's operations, with the pleasing 

 expectation of succeeding plunder. Theypatiently 

 wait till the crocodile has laid the whole number 

 of her eggs, till she has covered them carefully 

 under the sand, and until she is retired from them 

 to a convenient distance. Then, all together, 

 encouraging each other with cries, they pour 

 down upon the nest, hook up the sand in a mo- 

 ment, lay the eggs bare, and devour the whole 

 brood without remorse. Wretched as is the flesh 

 of these animals, yet men, perhaps, when pressed 

 by hunger, have been tempted to taste it. No- 



