VULTURE. . £ 



M bright as the fineft polifh could render that mineral : the legs 

 " were remarkably ftrong and large, and the talons like thofe of 

 " an eagle, except they were not fo {harp : and the wings, when 

 " they were extended, meafured, from point to point, no lefs 

 " than twelve feet." — This laft account feems by no means to 

 exceed the natural fize, fince we have an account in the Phila- 

 fophkal 'Tranfaffions * of one of the quill-feathers of this bird, 

 brought from Chili, which meafured two feet four inches ; the 

 diameter of the quill, half an inch ; and the extent of wing, fix- 

 teen feet. This bird was met with in lat. 33 S. not far from the 

 ifi.a.n& Mocha, in the South Seas, in the year 1691. The feamen 

 fhot it on a cliff by the fea-fide, and, taking it for a kind of 

 turkey, made a meal of it. In this account we are told that the 

 colour was black and white, like a magpie, and the creft, or 

 comb, fharp like a razor. 



It has been fuppofed, that thefe birds were peculiar to South Pl&cs; 



'America •, but Buffcn believes they- are likewife inhabitants of 

 Afia and Africa, and not unlikely of Europe alfo, if the Laemmer- 

 geir f of the Germans be the fame bird, which he feems inclined 

 to think ; and that the Roc or Ruch, mentioned frequently in the 

 Arabian 'Tales, may alfo prove to be the like : to which I may 

 add,.. the probability of the fame bird giving rife to one of the 

 labours of Hercules, recorded by the ancients ; I mean, the de- 

 ftroying the birds called Stymphalides'. But this is mere conjec- 

 ture : other authors have a different opinion J. 



* Vol.xviii. p. 62. See alfo the fame account in Raii Synopfis A-vhim s p. \i* 



f Hid. des oifeaux, vol. i. p. 193, 194.. 



J " Some authors maintain, that under this fable of the Stymphalida was 

 figured a certain band of robbers, who in felled this country \Arcadia\ and were- 

 exterminated by Hercules." Ogle's A?itiq. Gems, vol. i. p. in. 



Albert® 



