76 



HISTORY or 



sand in a moment, lay the eggs bare, and devour the whole 

 brood without remorse. Wretched as is the flesh of these 

 animals, yet men, perhaps when pressed by hunger, have been 

 tempted to taste it. Nothing can be more lean, stringy, nau- 

 seous, and unsavoury. It is in vain that, when killed, the rump 

 has been cut off j in vain the body has been washed, and spices 

 used to overpower its prevailing odour ; it still smells and tastes 

 of the carrion by which it was nourished, and sends forth a 

 stench that is insupportable. 



These birds, at least those of Europe, usually lay two eggs at 

 a time, and produce but once a year. They make their nests in 

 inaccessible cliffs, and in places so remote, that it is rare to find 

 them. Those in our part of the world chiefly reside in the 

 places where they breed, and seldom come down into the plains, 

 except when the snow and ice, in the native retreats, has ban- 

 ished all living animals but themselves ; they then come from 

 their heights, and brave the perils they must encounter in a more 

 cultivated region. As carrion is not found, at those seasons, in 

 sufficient quantity, or sufficiently remote from man to sustain 

 them, they prey upon rabbits, hares, serpents, and whatever 

 small game they can overtake or overpow er. 



Such are the manners of this bird in general ; but there is 

 one of the kind, called the king of the vultures, which from its 

 extraordinary figure, deserves a separate description. This bird 

 is a native of America, and not of the East Indies, as those 

 who make a trade of showing birds would induce us to believe. 

 This bird is larger than a turkey-cock ; but is chiefly remarkable 

 for the odd formation of the skin of the head and neck, which 

 is bare. This skin arises from the base of the bill, and is of an 

 orange colour; from whence it stretches on each side to the 

 head ; from thence it proceeds, like an indented comb, and 

 falls on either side, according to the motion of the head. The 

 eyes are surrounded by a red skin, of a scarlet colour ; and the 

 iris has the colour and lustre of pearl. The head and neck are 

 without feathers, covered with a flesh-coloured skin on the upper 

 part, a fine scarlet behind the head, and a duskier coloured skin 

 before : farther down, behind the head, arises a little tuft of 

 black down, from whence issues and extends beneath the throat, 

 on each side, a wrinkled skin, of a brownish colour, mixed with 

 blue, and reddish behind : below, upon the naked part of the 



