86 ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 



in purifying the land from the putrid carcasses of beasts, 

 the latter are busied in the performance of the same 

 important office on the coasts and on the borders of 

 lakes. They add moreover to these services the removal 

 of the still more offensive I'emains of the fishes thrown 

 upon the shore, which the Vultures themselves, unless 

 when hard pressed by hunger, would disdain to touch. 



The beautiful species which w^e are about to describe 

 measures about two feet m length from the point of the 

 beak to the extremity of the tail, and from four to five 

 in the expanse of its wings. No other living individual, 

 except that which is now in the Society's collection, 

 has, we believe, ever been seen in Europe ; and even 

 in cabinets the stuffed skin appears to be of consi- 

 derable rarity. It was first made known to science by 

 M. D'Azara, to whom we are indebted for the earliest 

 descriptions of so many South American animals, as 

 well as for the most authentic details with respect to 

 their native habits. In the present instance he has 

 unfortunately given us no such particulars ; and as no 

 other zoologist has seen the living bird in a state of 

 nature, we can but judge from analogy that its manners 

 are the same with those of the best known species of 

 its genus. A figure taken from a preserved specimen 

 has been lately published by M. Temminck in his 

 splendid Planches Coloriees; and the description which 

 accompanies it is the only original notice of the bird 

 subsequent to that of M. D'Azara. 



The latter author, or rather his French translator, 

 names it L'Aigle noiratre et blanc. He states that it 

 is found, but not frequently, in Paraguay, and that it 

 is generally seen in pairs. The feathers of the head, 

 neck, and upper part of the body, are, according to his 

 description, of a blackish blue, and, with the exception 

 of those of the back, terminated by dirty white. The 

 tail is blackish, with small whitish spots scattered over 



