THE CAPE VULTURE. 33 



around the Pyramids. Extensive flocks of them are also found in 

 Cairo, where they feed on offal and dead animals in the streets pro- 

 miscuously with the Dogs. Every morning and evening they assemble 

 with the Kites, in the square below the castle, in order to receive the 

 alms of fresh meat that have been left to them by the legacies of 

 various wealthy men. By the ancient Egyptians these birds were 

 esteemed sacred ; and Herodotus informs us, that it was considered a 

 capital crime to put one of them to death. 



Their appearance is as horrid as can be imagined in any animal; 

 and their whole body, from their habits of life, is covered with filth. 

 Notwithstanding this, the inhabitants of the countries where they 

 abound cannot be too thankful to Providence for supplying them with 

 these active scavengers, to cleanse their towns and villages of the 

 filth and putridity which otherwise, under a burning sun, and on 

 lands often inundated by the river which fertilizes them, would fill 

 the atmosphere with the most noxious exhalations. 



In Palestine they are of infinite service, in destroying the vast 

 multitudes of Eats and Mice which breed in the fields ; and which 

 without their assistance, would devour the whole fruits of the ground. 

 They also frequent the deserts, and there devour the bodies of men 

 and animals which perish in those desolated regions. They every 

 year follow the caravan from Egypt to Mecca, in order to feast upon 

 the flesh of slaughtered beasts, and the carcasses of the camels which 

 die on the journey. 



So little are these birds alarmed by the presence of mankind, that 

 they will not even quit the places which they haunt, even when fired 

 at with guns ; but after a short flight they immediately return. If one 

 jf thsm be killed, the rest surround and devour it. The Vulturine 

 Caracaro Eagle is probably a Vulture. It is found in Brazil, and 

 feeds on carrion. 



THE CAPE VULTURE. 



The sloth, the filth, and the voracity of these birds, almost exceed 

 credibility. Whenever they alight on a carcass that they can havo 

 liberty to tear at their ease, they gorge themselves in such a manner 

 that they become unable to fly, and even if pursued can only hop 

 along. At all times they are birds of slow flight, and are unable 

 eadily to raise themselves from the ground ; and when overfed, they 

 are utterly helpless. On the pressure of danger, however, they have 

 the power of ridding themselves of their burden, by vomiting up what 

 they have eaten ; and then they fly off with great facility. 



They frequent all the country at the Cape of Good Hope ; and are 

 BO familiar, that they often descend, in great numbers, near the entrance 

 to the shambles of the Cape Town, and there devour the heads, entraila, 

 and other offals, of the animals slaughtered for the market. On the 

 sea-shores they are also very abundant, voraciously devouring all such 

 aiiimal substances as have been thrown upon the coast by the tidea 



