390 



TROPICAL BIRDS OF PREY 



feed in the same ignoble manner, the condor pouncing from in- 

 credible distances upon the carcase of the mule or lama, while 

 the albatross gorges upon the fat of the stranded whale. 



While the condor is considered an enemy to man, the Gralli- 

 nazos, Turkey-buzzards, or common American Carrion Vultures 

 {Vultur aura, V. urubu), are very 

 serviceable to him, by consuming the 

 animal offals which, if left to putrefac- 

 tion, would produce a pestilence. Thus 

 they generally, in tropical America, 

 enjoy the protection of the law, a 

 YM'Mij "IT -41^ \ heavy fine, amounting in some towns 



,^r^ ^^SS^'^^fc"' to 300 dollars, being imposed upon 

 "^ "''■ "" the offender who wantonly kills one 



Tuikey Buzzaid. of thcsc scavcugers. It is Consequently 



not to be wondered at that, like domestic birds, they congregate 

 in flocks in the streets of Lima, and sleep upon the roofs of 

 the houses. 



In 1808, Waterton saw the vultures in Angostura as tame as 

 barn-fowls ; a person who had never seen one would have taken 

 them for turkeys. They were very useful to the citizens ; had 

 it not been for them, the refuse of the slaughter-houses would 

 have caused an intolerable nuisance. 



The Aura is dark-brown black, with a red and naked head 

 and neck, covered with wrinkles and warts ; the Urubu is very 

 similar, only the head and neck are grey-black, but equally 

 wrinkled and ugly. The latter ranges over South America in 

 countless numbers, as D'Orbigny witnessed on a visit to a 

 hacienda on the river Plata, where 12,000 oxen had been killed 

 for salting. During this wholesale massacre, 

 which lasted several months, the bones and 

 entrails were cast along the banks of the 

 stream, where at least 10,000 urubus had 

 congregated to enjoy the banquet. 



It is a remarkable fact that, though 

 hundreds of gallinazos may be feeding upon 

 a carcase, they immediately retire when the 

 King of the Vultures {Sarcoramphus papa) 

 makes his appearance, who yet is not larger than themselves. 

 Perching on the neighbouring trees, they wait till his majesty 



King Vulture. 



