666 TURKEY VULTURE. 
and, with that of the back and shoulders, black; ihe scapulars and 
secondaries are black on their outer webs, skirted with tawny brown, 
the latter slightly tipped with white; primaries and their coverts, plain 
brown, the former pointed, third primary the longest; coverts of the 
secondaries, and lesser coverts, tawny brown, centred with black, 
some of the feathers at their extremities slightly edged with white ; 
the tail is twelve inches long, rounded, of a brownish black, and com- 
posed of twelve feathers, which are broad at their extremities ; inside 
of wings and tail, light ash; the wings reach to the end of the tail; 
the whole body and neck beneath the plumage are thickly clothed 
with a white down, which feels like cotton; the shafts of the primaries 
are yellowish white above, and those of the tail, brown, both pure white 
below ; the plumage of the neck, back, shoulders, scapulars, and sec- 
ondaries, is glossed with green and bronze, and has purple reflec- 
tions; the thighs are feathered to the knees; feet, considerably 
webbed; middle toe, three inches and a half in length, and about an 
inch and a half longer than the outer one, which is the next longest; 
the sole of the foot is hard and rough; claws, dark horn color; the 
legs are of a pale flesh color, and three inches long. The claws are 
larger, but the feet slenderer than those of the Carrion Crow. The 
bill of the male is pure white; in some specimens the upper mandible 
is tipped with black. There is little or no perceptible difference 
between the sexes. : 
The bird from which the foregoing description was taken, (Fig. 316,) 
was shot for this work, at Great Egg Harbor, on the 30th of January. 
it was a female, in perfect plumage, excessively fat, and weighed five 
pounds one ounce avoirdupois. On dissection, it emitted a slight 
musky odor. 
The Vulture is included in the catalogue of those fowls declared 
unclean and an abomination by the Levitical law, and which the Is- 
raelites were interdicted eating.* We presume that this prohibition 
was religiously observed, so far, at least, as it related to the Vulture, 
from whose flesh there arises such an unsavory odor, that we question 
if all the sweetening processes ever invented could render it palatable 
to Jew, Pagan, or Christian. 
Since the above has been ready for the press, we have seen the His- 
tory of the Expedition under the command of Lewis and Clark, and 
find our conjecture with respect to the migration of the Turkey Buz- 
zard verified, severa] of this species having been observed at Brant 
Tsland, near the Falls of the Columbia.+ 
* Leviticus, xi. 14, — Deuteronomy, xiv. 13. 
t History of the Expediti--i, vol. ii. p. 233. 
