140 BLACK VULTURE. 
putrefaction caused by the constant and excessive heat would 
render the air insupportable to human life. When first they 
take wing, they fly heavily ; but afterwards, they rise so high ° 
as to be entirely invisible. On the ground they walk sluggishly, 
Their legs are well proportioned; they have three toes for- 
ward, turning inwards, and one on the inside, inclining a little 
backwards, so that, the feet interfering, they cannot walk with 
any agility, but are obliged to hop: each toe is furnished with 
a long and stout claw. 
“When the gallinazos are deprived of carrion or food in 
the city, they are driven by hunger among the cattle of the 
pastures. If they see a beast with a sore on the back, they 
alight on it, and attack the part affected; and it avails not 
that the poor animal throws wtself upon the ground, and en- 
deavours to intimidate them by its bellowing: they do not 
quit their hold! and by means of their bill they so soon 
enlarge the wound, that the animal finally becomes their 
preyanr 
The account, from the same author, of the beneficial effects 
resulting from the fondness of the vultures for the eggs of the 
alligator merits attention :— 
“The gallinazos are the most inveterate enemies of the 
alligators, or rather, they are extremely fond of their eggs, and 
employ much stratagem to obtain them. During the summer, 
these birds make it their business to watch the female alli- 
gators ; for it is in that season that they deposit their eggs in 
the sand of the shores of the rivers, which are not then over- 
flowed. The gallinazo conceals itself among the branches and 
leaves of a tree, so as to be unperceived by the alligator ; and 
permits the eggs quietly to be laid, not even interrupting the 
precautions that she takes to conceal them. But she is no 
sooner under the water than the ga!linazo darts upon the nest ; 
and, with its bill, claws, and wings, uncovers the eggs, and 
.* Voyage Historique de ’Amerique Meridionale, par Don George 
Juan et Don Antoine de Ulloa, liv. i. chap. vill. p. 52, 4 Amsterdam 
et a Leipzig, 1752, 4to. 


