100 ZOOLOGICAL GARUENS. 



received opinion, corroborated as it is to the fullest 

 extent by the anatomical structure of the organs of 

 smell, until repeated experiments shall have placed the 

 fact beyond the possibility of doubt. 



It is almost unnecessary to point out the great utility 

 of the strong deep curved bill of most of the Vultures 

 in tearing to pieces the carcasses on which they feed, 

 and consigning them in large masses to their maws. 

 The nakedness of their legs may be regarded as depen- 

 dent on the same causes and serving the same purposes 

 as that of their heads and necks. But the character 

 which has the strongest influence on their economy 

 must be sought for in the structure of their claws. 

 While the Falcons are enabled by means of their 

 strongly curved, sharp-pointed, and highly retractile 

 talons, to seize their victims with an irresistible grasp 

 and to convey them through the air, the Vultures are 

 restricted by the obtuseness of those organs, their want 

 of the necessary curvature, and the almost total absence 

 of retractility, to the use of their beaks alone in the 

 seizure of their prey, which they are quite incapable of 

 transporting with them in their flight, and are conse- 

 quently compelled to devour upon the spot. It is to 

 this simple modification in structure that they are 

 chiefly indebted for that propensity for preying upon 

 carrion, which has obtained for them all the oppro- 

 brious epithets that stigmatize them throughout the 

 world. 



The Vulture family, which formed but a single genus 

 in the Linnsean classification, has since been divided 

 into several groups, some of which appear to us to be 

 still capable, and deserving also, of further subdivision. 

 We have already spoken of the South American group, 

 of which the Condor furnishes the most conspicuous 

 example ; and we have now to turn our attention to 



