228 AVES. 
longitudinal nostrils, but no fleshy crest ; their head and neck are 
without feathers. 
V. californianus, Sh.; Tem. Col. 31. (The Vulture of Califor- 
nia.) Approaches the Condor in size, but its wings are pro- 
portionably longer; the plumage is entirely brown. 
V. aura, L., Enl. 1875 Viellot, Am. Sept. 2 and Galer. 4. 
(The Turkey Buzzard.) Black; tail cuneiform ; as large as a 
cock. See App. XII of Am. Ed. 
PEercnorTervs, 1) Cuv.—Gyparros, Bechstein.—Neroruron, Savig. 
The Percnopteri have a slender, long beak, slightly inflated above 
its curvature ; the nostrils oval and longitudinal, and the head, but 
not the neck, divested of feathers. They are birds of a moderate 
size, and very far removed, as to strength, from the true Vultures ; 
thus they fall more furiously upon carrion and other species of filth, 
which attract them from afar ; they do not even disdain to feed upon 
excrement. They were comprehended by Illiger, along with the 
preceding, among his Caruarres. 
Vult. percnopterus, L.3; V. leucocephalus and V. fuscus, Gm. 
Enl. 407 and 429; Vieillot, Galer. 2; Naum. pl. 3; Vault. de 
Gingi, Sonn. and Daud.; Origourap, Vaill. Afr. 143 Rachamah, 
Bruce ; Pharaoh’s Bird, in Egypt. As large as a crow ; throat 
and cheeks naked ; the adult male white, quills of the wings 
black ; the young and the female, brown. This bird is found 
throughout the whole of the eastern continent, and is particu- 
larly common in warm countries, where it is an excellent sca- 
venger, purifying them from carrion, &c. It follows the cara- 
vans in the desert to devour all that dies. The ancient Egyp- 
tians held it in respect on account of the services it renders to 
the country, and frequently sculptured it on their monuments. 
Even at the present day it is exempt from injury, and pious 
Mussulmen sometimes bequeath sums of mae Dey, for the main- 
tenance of a certain number. 
V. jota, Bonap.; Vieillot, Am. Sept. pl. 1. (The Urubu.) 
Of the size and form of the preceding ; the beak stronger; the 
whole body of a brilliant black; the entire head naked. Com- 
mon in all the hot and temperate parts of America, where it 
renders similar services as the Percnopterus in Egypt ; flocking 
round dead bodies, and consuming every kind of filth.(2) 
(1) Perenopterus, black wings, the name of the Egyptian species, among the 
ancients. 
(2) This bird has been confounded for a long time with the aura, but its beak 
is much more slender. Add the Catharte moine, Pl. Col. 222. 
