354 NEW WORLD SCAVENGERS. 



marshy levels of this continent, some characteristic species : notably, 

 the Jacanas and the Kamichis ; the Agami or Trumpet-Bird, remark- 

 able for its pastoral instinct, its domestic aptitudes, and the ringing 

 sound of its voice ; the Savacou, which, in the structure of its enor- 

 mous beak and its general habits, is allied to the African Balseniceps. 

 Here, as in Africa, a species of rapacious Grallator nourishes, the 

 Cariama, delivering " a war to the knife " against the reptile legions. 

 Raptores more accurately defined such, for example, as the Falco 

 cachinnans, or Laughing Vulture share in the destructive campaign 

 against frogs, toads, lizards, and small serpents. And in the New, as 

 in the Old World, Nature does not neglect the work of purification, 

 intrusting it in the savannahs and the pampas to various kinds 

 of Vulturidse, which devour the putrid carcasses that would otherwise 

 pollute the atmosphere. The Caihartes-Urubu and the Aura are the 

 most common species ; the Mexicans call them Zopilotes. They are 

 found in all Central and Southern America, and frequently range to 

 very high latitudes. They are of small size, very social, easy 

 familiarized with man, and may be seen in great numbers, not alone 

 in the deserts and plains, but in the great towns, where they effi- 

 ciently play the part of great sanitary reformers. They are gifted 

 with extraordinary delicacy of scent ; they detect the existence of 

 camon at great distances, and flock from the four quarters of heaven 

 to banquet upon it. The Sarcoramphus Papa, or "King of the 

 Vultures," a species closely allied to the great Condor of the Andes, 

 is likewise encountered very frequently in the plains of Tropical 

 America, but only where the herbage has been set on fire ; which is 

 a common enough occurrence, either through lightning, or by accident 

 or design on the part of the Indians. Then he arrives on rapid 

 pinion to prey upon the lizards, and frogs, and serpents which are 

 destroyed by the scathing and consuming flames. His attire is more 

 elegant than his mission in creation would seem to render necessary. 

 The plumage on the upper part of the body is of a reddish hue, the 

 neck and head of a delicate bluish-violet, the beak red, the crest 

 orange, the eyebrows white, and the wings black. He is about the 



