THE VULTURE. 113 



carry nesting material therewith, for they build large un- 

 wieldy nests on trees or rocks ; and they are sufficiently 

 well endowed with a vocal apparatus to vent their affec- 

 tions in horrid bello wings at the breeding season. Onr 

 Vultures heie build large rough nests in trees, of fresh 

 boughs torn off by main strength, and the plebeians are 

 sociable, nesting in colonies ; royalty, of course, can toler- 

 ate no neighbouring rivals. As a rule, they only lay one 

 egg ; a large fertility is not necessary to keep up the num- 

 bers of birds which run so few risks as Vultures do and 

 possess such iron constitutions. They have even been 

 known to take and survive doses of poison which would 

 inevitably have proved fatal to anything else. 



A pleasing subject for speculation is the baldness of 

 these disreputable fowl. Of course the most obvious 

 explanation is that feathers on a head which is continually 

 being poked inside carcases would soon be the reverse of 

 ornamental, if not unhealthy ; but as Darwin, with his 

 usual philosophic caution, remarks, the head of the cleanly 

 turkey is just as naked. So are those of the Ibis and the 

 Cassowary, and the Sarus Crane, and scattered here and 

 there throughout the bird class we come upon heads grie- 

 vously in need of a hair restorer. It will, however, be 

 noticed, that such usually belong to big birds ; and that 

 where degrees of baldness exist in any given family, the 

 biggest will also generally be the barest on the top. The 

 Ostrich indeed, the largest of all birds, is also the nakedest ; 

 his head and neck only have scanty hairs, and his thighs 

 are completely nude. To apply this to the Vulture ; the 

 low-caste and under-sized Scavenger has a bald face, the 

 F, BC 8 



