picking up any fragments ' of the banquet, but also by 

 the beetles that arc in that line of business. Nothing 

 comes amiss to this bird in the way of food, but I think 

 that, although they readily devour small snakes, lizards, 

 frogs, scorpions, centipedes, and beetles, they prefer the 

 most disgusting filth and the most odoriferous decaying 

 garbage to living animals of any sort. On one occasion 

 I observed two of these birds, a White Stork, two or 

 three cur-dogs, a sow and her pigs, a starving cat, and 

 three young children apparently enjoying themselves on 

 a heap of what I will call " refuse," in the main street 

 of a Spanish village. I am assured that the Neophron 

 frequently nests in trees, but all the occupied nests that 

 I have seen have been in the hollows of cliffs, generally 

 at no very great elevation. I must, however, mention 

 that I am acquainted with one instance in which a pair 

 of Neophrons took possession of a nest of the Common 

 Kite, from which the original owners had been destroyed 

 and their eggs taken. The eggs are laid in April, but 

 I do not think that the young leave the nests before 

 July. On wing, at some distance, the Neophron pre- 

 sents a very remarkable appearance, giving (to me at 

 least) the impression of a bird flying without a head ; 

 but it is only when on wing that this species is not 

 repulsive in the highest degree. Its aspect is in keep- 

 ing with its habits and character — a coward and a bully 

 of the lowest type, and withal a perfect instrument, as 

 far as its capacities extend, for sanitary purposes in 

 countries where the human inhabitants ignore the most 

 obvious precautions against pestilence. 



The bird from which the principal figure in my Plate 



