THE VULTURE. 47 



A curious disappointment. 



effect, for the vultures never relinquish their hold 

 till they have completed its destruction. 



The resemblance of these birds, at a distance, 

 to the turkey, was the cause of considerable vex>- 

 ation to one of the officers engaged in the expe- 

 dition round the world, under W codes Rogers. 

 In the island of Lobos, immense numbers of 

 them were seen, and, highly delighted with the 

 prospect of such delicious fare after a tedious 

 voyage, the officer would not wait even till the 

 boat could put him ashore, but, with his gun ia 

 his hand, leaped overboard and swam to land. 

 Coming near to a large collection of the birds, 

 he fired among them, and killed several : but 

 when he came to seize his game, he was sadly 

 disappointed in finding that they were not tur- 

 kies, and their stench was almost insupportable. 



Kolben mentions these birds, or a variety of 

 the same species, as frequenting many parts in 

 the vicinity of the Cape of Good Hope. " I 

 have often," says this author, " been a spectator 

 of the manner in which they have anatomized a 

 dead body : I say anatomized, for no artist in the 

 world could have done it more cleanly. They 

 have a wonderful method of separating the flesh 

 from the bones, and yet leaving the skin quite 

 entire. Upon coining near the carcase, no one 

 would suppose it thus deprived of its internal 

 substance, till he began to examine it more 

 closely ; he then finds it, literally speaking, no- 



