VULTURES. 1 1 



FAMILY I. VULTURID.E. 



( Vultures.) 



We have just observed, that the birds of this 

 Family are not strictly rapacious, inasmuch as 

 their organization unfits them for violence ; but 

 their food consists of dead flesh, which in hot 

 countries, where the Vultures chiefly occur, so 

 quickly attains putridity as to have induced the 

 notion that they feed exclusively on carrion. We 

 have proved, however, by personal observation, 

 that decomposition is not a necessary condition 

 of the Vultures' food, for they may be frequently 

 seen regaling themselves on the flesh of an animal 

 within half an hour after it has been killed. 



" The Vulturidce" observes Sir William Jardine, 

 "have universally been looked upon with a kind 

 of disgust. Ungraceful in form, of loose and ill- 

 kept plumage, and except when satisfying the 

 cravings of hunger, or during the season of incu- 

 bation, of sluggish and inactive manners, they 

 present nothing attractive, while carrion being 

 generally mentioned as their common food, asso- 

 ciations have been created of the most loathsome 

 character. They are not, however, without utility, 

 for, in the warmer regions of the world, they con- 

 sume the animal remains, which, without the assist- 

 ance of these birds, the more ignoble carnivorous 

 quadrupeds, and the myriads of carcase-eating 

 insects, would soon spread pestilence around." * 



The beak, in the Vulturid<e> is somewhat 

 lengthened, and curved downward at the point: 



* Nat. Lib. ORNITHOLOGY, vol. i. p. 91. 



