TURKEY VULTURE. 661 
and Middle States, it is partially migratory, the greater part retiring to 
the south ou the approach of cold weather. But numbers remain all 
Dumeril, and Cathartes of Illiger ; the one containing the Condur and Californian 
Vultures ; the other, the Turkey Buzzards, &c., of Wilson. They are, perhaps, 
generally, the most unseemly and disgusting of the whole feathered race, of loose 
and ill-kept plumage, of sluggish habits when not urged on by hunger, feeding on 
any animal food which they can easily tear to pieces, but often upon the most putrid 
and loathsome carrion. They have been introduced by the ancients, in their beau- 
tiful but wild conceptions and imagery, and have been imbodied in the tales of fic- 
tion, and poems of the modern day, as all that is lurid, disgusting, and horrible. 
They are the largest of the feathered race, if we except the Struthionidw, or that 
group to which the Ostrich, Cassowary, and Bustards belong, and have long been 
celebrated on account of their great strength. Many fabulous stories are recorded 
of the formidable Condur carrying off men, bullocks, and even elephants. 
They have been called the scavengers of nature; and in warm climates, where 
all animal matter so soon decays, they are no doubt useful in clearing off what 
would soon fill the air with noxious miasmata. In many parts of Spain, and southern 
Europe, the Neophron percnopterus, or Egyptian Vulture of Savigny, and in Amer- 
ica, the native species, are allowed to roam unmolested through the towns, and are 
kept in the market places, as Storks are in Holland, to clear away the refuse and 
offal; and a high penalty is attached to the destruction of any of them. In this 
state they become very familiar and independent. Mr. Audubon compares them to 
a garrisoned half-pay soldier; “‘ to move is for them a hardship; and nothing but 
extreme huuger will make them fly down from the roof of the kitchen into the yard. 
At Natchez, the number of these expecting parasites is so great, that all the refuse 
within their reach is insufficient to maintain lon They appear also to have been 
used for a most revolting purpose among barbarons nations, or at least, in conjunc- 
tion with wild animals, were depended upon to assist in destroying and clearing 
away the dead, which were purposely exposed to their ravages. Some, however, 
are elegant and graceful in their form and plumage, and vie with the Eagles in 
strength aud activity. Sueh is the Vultur barbatus of Edwards, the Lammergeyer 
of the European Alps. 
Independent of the species mentioned by our author, three others have been de- 
scribed as natives of this continent. Swrcoramphus eryphis and Californianus ct 
Dumeril, and the Cathartes pur of Mliger; the former supposed to be the cele- 
brated Roc of Sinbad, the no less noted Condur of moderus. They are found on 
the north-west chain of the Andes, frequeuting, and not indeed generally met with 
until, near the limits of eterna! snow, where they may be seen perched on the sum- 
mit of a projecting rock, or sweeping round on the approach of an intruder, in ex- 
pectation of prey, and looking, when opposed to a clear sky, of double magnitude. 
“ Moving athwart the evening sky, 
Seem forms of giant height.” 
The stories of their destructive propensities are, to a certain extent, unfounded. 
No instance is recorded, by any late travellers, of children being carried off, and all 
their inquiries proved the reverse. It is a much-followed occupation by the peas- 
antry at the base of the Andes, to ascend in search of ice br the luxury of the 
towns, and their children, at a very tender age, carried with them, are frequently 
Jeft at considerable distances, unprotected ; they always remain in security. The 
S. Californianus was first known from a specimen in the British Museum, brought 
from California. Mr, Douglas found it more lately in the woody districts of that 
country; and I have transcribed his interesting account of ‘its manners, &c. 
“ These gigantic birds, which represent the Condur in the northern hemisphere, ar= 
common along the coast of California, but are never seen beyond the woody parts 
of the country. Thave met with them as far to the north as 49 dee. north lat.. in 
the summer and antumn months, but no where so abundantly as in the Columbian 
Valley, between the grand rapids and the sea They build their nests in the most 
secret and impenetrable parts of the pine forests, invariably selecting the loftiest 
trees that overhang precipices on the deepest and least accessible parts of the moun- 
tain valleys. ‘The nest is large. composed of strong, thorny twigs and grass, in every 
way similar to that of the Eagle tribe, but more slovenly constructed. The same 
pair resort for sa) years to the same nest. bestowing little trouble or attention 
J) 
