﻿BIRDS OF PREY. — VULTUR CINEREUS. 283 



we may advert to the fact, that not one half of the new 

 world vultures have either caruncles or wattles. The 



kingdom. Of the typical vultures there are only two 

 species found in Europe, — the V. fulvus and the V. ci- 

 nereus (fig. 91.),, the last of which we have occasionally 

 found on the lofty mountains of Sicily. Neophron (Sa- 

 vigny),Sarcoramphus (Dumeril), and some others, seem 

 to be minor variations, or subgenera. Neophron is obvi- 

 ously a tenuirostral type, for its lengthened and slender 

 bill more resembles that of a wader than of a bird of prey ; 

 while the Vultur aura of South America seems to us to be 

 the type of Cathartes. Both these great divisions have 

 the head and neck more or less bare of feathers, while 

 their feet and general aspect at once proclaim the typical 

 characters of the family they represent. But there are 

 some other birds, obviously allied to these, which cannot, 

 however, be associated with them. One of these is the 

 New Holland vulture, mentioned by my friend Chief 

 Justice Field*, and which is so like a rasorial bird that 

 some authors have hesitated (not having seen a specimen) 

 as to what order it really belonged. So completely, 

 indeed, has nature disguised this rare and extraordinary 

 vulture in the semblance of that type which it is to re- 

 present in its own family, that it has even been classed 

 by one writer with the Menura of the same continent ; 



pre-eminent distinction of these 

 two groups appears to be in the 

 very opposite forms of their nos- 

 trils. In Vultur, the aperture 

 is placed transversely across the 

 bill, while in Cathartes it is long, 

 linear, and situated parallel with 

 the margin of the bill ; in other 

 words, the aperture is longitu- 

 dinal. In the most aberrant 

 species, there will, of course, be 

 an interchange of characters, as 

 in every other part of the animal 



* G£o. Me"moires of New South Wales. 



