THE GRIFFON VULTURE. 207 
but even with the smallest of the Falcon tribe, are the 
necessary result of their organisation. Their beak, it is 
true, is like that of the Eagles strongly curved at the 
point alone, and they also possess all the technical 
characters of the Rapacious Order; but their talons are 
far inferior, both in size and in the degree of their cur- 
vature, and they are consequently unable to grasp their 
prey with sufficient force to transport it through the air. 
Their diminished power of flight renders them incapable 
of soaring upwards to search abroad with piercing eye 
for the objects of their rapacity ; and they are therefore 
left dependent upon the acute sensibility of their nos- 
trils, which amply supplies the deficiency. Of the 
external characters which they exhibit the most remark- 
able is derived from the want of plumage on the head 
and neck, which are covered in the greater number of the 
species by nothing more than a sort of down or by short 
and smooth hairs. The object of this provision appears 
to be to enable them to bury as it were their heads in 
the carrion on which they feed, without exposing their 
plumage to be soiled by the filth which it might other- 
wise contract. Their eyes are placed on a level with 
their cheeks; their heads are rounded above; they have 
most frequently a ruff of considerable extent round the 
lower part of their necks; and their legs are usually 
bare of feathers and covered with large scales. Their 
very attitudes offer the most perfect contrast to those of 
the Eagles; the latter constantly maintaining a bold 
upright posture, with their wings closely pressed to their 
sides, and their tails elevated, while the Vultures on the 
contrary are always seen bending forwards in a crouch- 
ing position, with their wings depressed and separated 
