THE VULTURIME CA R AC ARA-EAG LE / 305 



blance to the Vulture tribes. The whigs are long, 

 reaching to or even beyond the extremity of the tail, 

 and are rounded in their outline ; but we cannot speak 

 with certainty as to the relative length of their quill- 

 feathers. The tail is even or slightly rounded ; the 

 rather long- and slender less are naked and reticulated 

 from the joint downwards; the toes rather short; and 

 the talons .weak and but little curved, the inner and 

 the posterior being alone capable of grasping with any 

 degree of firmness. 



The birds in the Society's Garden are the only 

 specimens that we have seen of this interesting species, 

 which appears to have remained up to the present 

 period quite unknown to science. To judge from ana- 

 logy they should be natives of South America, but in 

 the absence of authentic information on the subject, 

 and with our knowledge of the very extensive distri- 

 bution of the long-winged species of the Raptorial 

 Order, we will not venture to speak confidently as to 

 the quarter from whence they were brought. When 

 they first became inhabitants of the Menagerie, nearly 

 two years ago, the plumage of both was nearly the 

 same, but the change that has since taken place, more 

 particularly in one of them, has proved that they were 

 then in an immature state. From a note made in the 

 summer of 1829 we find that the feathers of the head, 

 neck, and under parts in both specimens were then 

 tinged, like those of the back, of a brownish ash- 

 colour ; the upper wing-coverts pale brown ; the lower 

 brown ; and the quill-feathers brownish-black. The 

 beak w^as dark horn-coloured ; the naked part of the 

 cheeks, which was confined to a patch above and below 

 the eye and behind the cere, had a tinge of flesh-colour ; 

 and the leas exhibited somewhat of a similar hue. 



At present, however, the differences between the two 



BIRDS. X 



