HISTORY OF 



shepherds. Labat acquaints us, that those who have seen th, 

 animal, declare that the body is as large as that of a sheep j and 

 that the flesh is tough, and as disagreeable as carrion. Ihe 

 Spaniards themselves seem to dread its depredations ; and there 

 have been many instances of its carrying off their children. 



tirely wanting in the femal.-, and M. Daadin has erroneously attributed it 

 o her It is of an oblong figure, wrinkled, and very slender. ^ >y "^^ of 

 L ndor exhibits a very considerable aperture ; but it .s concea ed und r 

 the folds of the temporal membrane. The eye is singularly elongated moie 

 emit frornti. beau than in the eagies ; ^Z^'^''^''^ t^Z'^^i^ 

 our The entire neck is garnished with parallel wrinkles ; but the sk u is 

 Tss flaccid than that which covers the throat. These wrinkles are placed 

 lonlua 1^^^^^ and arise from the habit of this vulture of contracting Us 

 neck and colcealing it in the collar, which answers the purpose of a hood 

 TWs'coui- which i! neither less broad, nor less white in the adul female 

 Sn ^n the' male, is formed of a tine silken do... It ^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^ 

 separates from the naked part of the neck the body of ^'^ J^;;"* /^^J;^^^^^ 

 wfth genuine feathers. Linnaeus, and after h.m Daudm have both asserted 

 Tut without foundation, that this colla: is wanting xn he fema^ In both 

 Bcxes.thehoodisnot entire; it does not close exactly m front and the 

 neck is naked as far as the place were the black -^^^^kTlXy grayish. 



The rest of the bird, back, wings and tail, are of a blacK s"D'"'y « * 

 Tirnlumes are sometimes ^f a brilliant black ; niost frequently, however 

 S:btck boTders on a gray. They are of a triangular figure, and cover 



central chain of the 7-" -" ^^ ^^'^;/„'';^th 2 condor as with Patago. 

 ^''"'^:^r rJrt^ oi^e o^^ ae^^^^^^^ natural history,_the more 



mans and so many o^i^" ° J ^ ^^ enormous dimensions been 



they have been examined, the more have t^^^^ ^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^.^^ ^^ 



found to dimimsk The "Y^-g^ but three feet three inches. Their usual 

 '''" '''''^re 'r:r nte' e f ' ^om individuals from a superabundant sup. 

 X^^rent or" oth^r causes, may have attained an extent of wing, of 

 fourteen feet. 



