SOUTH AMERICA. 219 



wing-feathers are black, the belly white, and the D 



- JOURNEY. 



rest or the body a fine satin colour. 



I cannot be persuaded that the vultures ever 

 feed upon live animals, not even upon lizards, rats, 

 mice, or frogs ; I have watched them for hours 

 together, but never could see them touch any 

 living animals, though innumerable lizards, frogs, 

 and small birds swarmed all around them. I have 

 killed lizards and frogs, and put them in a proper 

 place for observation ; as soon as they began to 

 stink, the aura vulture invariably came and took 

 them off. I have frequently observed, that the 

 day after the planter had burnt the trash in a 

 cane-field, the aura vulture was sure to be there, 

 feeding on the snakes, lizards, and frogs which 

 had suffered in the conflagration. I often saw a 

 large bird (very much like the common gregarious 

 vulture at a distance) catch and devour lizards ; 

 after shooting one, it turned out to be not a vul- 

 ture, but a hawk, with a tail squarer and shorter 

 than hawks have in general. The vultures, like 

 the goatsucker and woodpecker, seem to be in 

 disgrace with man. They are generally termed 

 a voracious, stinking, cruel, and ignoble tribe. 

 Under these impressions, the fowler discharges his 

 gun at them, and probably thinks he has done 

 well in ridding the earth of such vermin. 



Some governments impose a fine on him who 

 kills a vulture. This is a salutary law, and it 

 were to be wished that other governments would 



