THE URUBU 39 [ 



- a beautiful bird, with head and neck gaudily coloured with 

 scarlet, orange, blue, brown and white — has sufficiently gorged 

 himself, and then pounce down with increased voracity upon 

 their disgusting meal. 



According to Humboldt, they are intimidated by the greater 

 l)oldness of the sarcoramphus. The true reason of their homage, 

 however, seems to be the fear they entertain for the more 

 powerful beak of the " king," who, from a similar motive, 

 L;ives way to the still mightier condor. 



Among the sea-birds we find the same phenomenon. On the 

 ice-bound coast of Nowaja Semlja, suffering no other bird in his 

 vicinity, dwells the fierce Burgomaster [Larus glauca). None 

 (»f its class dares dispute the authority of this lordly bird when 

 it descends on its prey, though in the possession of another, 

 it is the general attendant on the whale-fisher, whenever spoils 

 ;ire to be obtained. Then it hovers over the scene of action, 

 and having marked out its morsel, descends upon it and carries 

 it off on the wing.* 



The Indians of Guiana sometimes amuse themselves with 

 catching one of the urubus by means of a piece of meat 

 attached to a hook, and decking him with a variety of strange 

 leathers, which they atta,ch to him with soft wax. Thus tra- 

 \ c'stied, they turn him out again among his comrades, who, to 

 their great delight, fly in terror from the nondescript; and it 

 is only after wind and weather have stripped him of his finery 

 tJiat the outlaw is once more admitted into urubu-society. 



WTien full of food this vulture, like the other members of his 

 tribe, certainly appears an indolent bird. He will stand for hours 

 together on a branch of a tree, or on the top of a house, with 

 liis wings drooping, or after rain, spreading them to catch the 

 rays of the sun. But when in quest of prey, he may be seen 

 sojiring aloft on pinions which never flutter, and which at the 

 same time carry him with a rapidity equal to that of the 

 golden eagle. Scarcely has he espied a piece of carrion 

 below, when, folding his broad wings, he descends with such 

 speed as to produce a whistling sound, resembling that of an 

 arrow cleaving the air. 



The gallinazos when taken young can be so easily tamed 



* " The Sea and its Living Wonders," 2nd edit. p. 136. 



