ILuuuEits.l 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



275 



greyish tint ; the secondary quill-feathers are barred 

 alternately with dusky brown and grey ; under sur- 

 face whitish with triangular reddish bars or dashes ; 

 tail crossed by three bars of dark brown. 



HARRIERS. 



The Harriers may be distinguished from the buz- 

 zards by their long slender tarsi, their slight and 

 more elongated contour of body, and their length- 

 ened wings and tail. The plumage is of soft and 

 loose texture, and the feathers round the face are 

 so disposed as to form a sort of ruff, approaching to 

 the disc so conspicuous in the owls. Beak small 

 and compressed. 



The harriers are more active and more on the wing 

 than the buzzards ; they frequent heathy moors, bogs, 

 marshy wastes, and low flat grounds, over which 

 they are continually flying; they quarter the ground 

 like a spaniel, searching for snakes and other rep- 

 tiles, small quadrupeds and birds; their -flight is 

 easy and buoyant, but seldom very elevated; they 

 build on the ground, among reeds, fern, or rushes. 



1264.— The Moor Harrier 



(Circus (zrvginosiis). Head and foot. Moor Buz- 

 zard, Marsh Buzzard of some writers ; Harpaye, 

 Busard Harpaye, and Busard de Marais of the 

 French ; Falco castagnolo and Falco con la testa 

 bianca (young birds), Falco albanella con il collare 

 (old), of "the Italians ; Schwarz-brauner, Fisch-Geyer 

 mit dem gelben Kopf, Brauner rohr Geyer, Brand- 

 weihe, Wasserweihe, and Sumpfvveihe of the Ger- 

 mans ; Bod y gwerni of the ancient British. 



This species is a native of most parts of Europe, 

 Asia, and Africa ; frequenting boggy moorlands and 

 extensive marshes. It is common in Holland and 

 in the Maremma of Italy, being in both countries 

 migratory, as on the Continent generally, but not in 

 our island. 



The flight of the moor harrier is low, near the 

 ground, and noiseless; on perceiving its prey it 

 drops instantaneously upon it and secures it in its 

 clutch. In this manner it surprises wild ducks, 

 coots, dab-chicks, and water-rats ; it preys to a 

 great extent on frogs, and will sometimes take perch 

 or other fish as they swim on the surface of the 

 water. It will also feed on dead carcasses. In 

 Wales, where this bird is common,- it preys upon 

 rabbits that inhabit the sand-banks on the shores of 

 Caermarthenshire, and Montagu saw nine together 

 feeding upon the body of a dead sheep. This spe- 

 cies builds its nest on the ground among tufts of 

 grass or rushes which grow in marshy places. The 

 eggs, three or four in number, are of a white 

 colour, not spotted. The colouring of the adult 

 bird is as follows : — head, neck, and breast pale dull 

 yellowish, each feather having a central streak of 

 brown; upper surface brown; quill- feathers white 

 at their origin, black the rest of their length ; se- 

 condaries and tail-feathers ashy grey ; under parts 

 rufous, marked with yellowish clashes: beak black; 

 cere greenish; tarsi yellow. Length, one foot eight 

 or nine inches. Dining the first year the plumage 

 is deep chocolate brown, the feathers having paler 

 margins. From this stage the transition is gradual 

 to the permanent livery, which is assumed the fourth 

 year. 



Family VULTURIME (VULTURES). 



Although the parallels which some distinguished 

 naturalists in the present day have attempted to 

 draw between mammalia and birds sometimes 

 appear to be rather overstrained, there are some 

 instances in which they are too palpable to be over- 

 looked. The Falconidse represent the lions, tigers, 

 cats, and musteline groups ; and in the present 

 family, a foul-feeding race to whom the most loath- 

 some carrion is acceptable, we may trace an analogy 

 to the by am a, jackal, and wild dog: alike scaven- 

 gers of the earth, which they clear of putrescent 

 animal remains, the noisome rejectanea, which would 

 otherwise corrupt the air with pestilential exhala- 

 tions, Providence has placed them in those countries 

 where their services, disgusting as they are, are 

 nevertheless essential. From the earliest times the 

 wild dogs and the vultures have been notorious for 

 their participation in the feast of carrion, the repast 

 of the slain : 



e( ■aroXXoii; al nun; xcci yvvi; 'iiawrai 



T^&W— Homerus, Iliad, lib. xviii. line 271. 



And again, Ovid — 



" Uiiguitms et mstro tardus trahet ilia vultur, 

 Et scindent avidue perfida corda canes." 



Vultures are, however, less ferocious in their dis- 

 position than wild dogs or hyaenas, and seldom at- 

 tack living prey ; where the dead are, there are they 

 gathered together: sailing on wide and ample wings 

 they sweep from the higher regions of the air to 

 their repast, and gorge themselves until scarcely 

 able to rise from the ground. 



In these birds tne beak, hooked at the point, varies 

 in strength and form. In the more lypieal species 

 the head and -neck are denuded of feathers or only 



covered with a little down, while round the bottom 

 of the latter is a ruff" of soft or slender feathers, 

 arising from a loose fold of skin, within which they 

 can withdraw the neck and even the greatest part 

 of the head, while they remain in a semi-torpid 

 state, motionless as statues, during the digestion of 

 their meal. (See Fig. 1265, Head of Griffon-Vul- 

 ture.) 



On the breast and over the crop the skin is bare, 

 or at most scantily covered ; the limbs are of 

 moderate strength, but the toes are feeble, and un- 

 armed with formidable talons ; and they seldom 

 attempt to remove their carrion food, but continue 

 with it till satisfied. The plumage generally con- 

 sists of stiff large feathers overlying each other, 

 and forming an almost shot-proof defence. The 

 wings are ample. It has been a matter of much 

 discussion as to whether it is by their extraordinary 

 powers of vision, or by the keenness of their scent, 

 that vultures detect their food. It has been fre- 

 quently noticed, that when the sky seems clear, 

 when not a wing can be seen in the glowing ex- 

 panse above, no sooner does an animal fall, no 

 sooner has the hunter slain and left his quarry, than, 

 as if suddenly called into existence, multitudes of 

 vultures are observed pouring from the sky and 

 thronging to the feast, 



The ancient classic writers teem with passages 

 attributing to the vulture an acute and discrimi- 

 nating scent : 



" nare sagaci 

 Aera non sanum, motumque cadavere sentit." 



Luc AN. 

 "... Per auras . . longe ducuntur odore volturii eadaveribus." 



Lucretius. 



And Pliny, speaking of the senses, says, " Ex sen- 

 sibus ante csetera homini tactus; delude gustatus; 

 reliquis superatur a multis, aquilse clariiis cernunt, 

 vultures sagacius odorantur." With the experience 

 of the ancients agree the experiments of Mr. Water- 

 ton, while Mr. Audubon as strenuously maintains 

 that it is on sight alone that the vulture de- 

 pends, and such appears to be the opinion of Le 

 Vaillant. " Desirous," says this naturalist, " of ob- 

 serving how so great a number of vultures could 

 congregate together in so short a time, I concealed 

 myself one day in a thicket, after having killed a 

 large gazelle, which I left upon the spot. In an 

 instant a number of ravens made their appearance, 

 fluttering about the animal, and loudly croaking. 

 In less than a quarter of an hour these birds were 

 reinforced by the arrival of kites and buzzards ; and 

 immediately afterwards I perceived, on raising ray 

 head, a flight of birds at a prodigious height, wheel- 

 ing round and round in their descent. These I 

 soon recognised to be vultures, which seemed, if I 

 may so express myself, to escape from a cavern in 

 the sky. They seemed almost to precipitate them- 

 selves from the clouds to share the spoil, but my 

 presence caused them speedily to disappear. Thus 

 then it is that the vultures are called upon to par- 

 ticipate their prey: the first carnivorous birds that 

 discover a carcass rouse the others which happen 

 to be in the environs by their cries and actions. If 

 the nearest vulture does not spy his prey from the 

 lofty region of the air in whichhe swims by means 

 of his wide-spread wings, he perceives at least the 

 subaltern and more terrestrial birds of prey pre- 

 paring to take possession of it : but perhaps he him- 

 self has sufficient power of vision to enable him to 

 discover it ; he descends hastily and with a wheel- 

 ing flight, and his fall directs the other vultures 

 who witness his evolutions, aud who have, no doubt, 

 their instinct sharpened Avith regard to everything 

 that concerns their food." Notwithstanding this, 

 and various experiments by Mr. Audubon, we by 

 no means concur in the attempted deduction that 

 the vulture is destitute of the powers of smell. 

 Professor Owen, in his account of the dissection of 

 the olfactory organs of the turkey-buzzard, thus 

 concludes : "The above notes show that the vulture 

 has a well-developed organ of smell, but whether 

 he finds his prey by that sense alone, or in what 

 degree it assists, anatomy is not so well calculated 

 to explain as experiment." (' Zool. Proceeds.' 1837, 

 p. 35.) 



Professor Owen's details are appended to the fol- 

 lowing observations on the habits of the turkey- 

 buzzard, called John Crow in Jamaica, where a 

 fine of five pounds is imposed upon those who de- 

 stroy the bird within a stated distance of the prin- 

 cipal towns. The writer is Mr. W. Sells : " It has," 

 he says, "been questioned whether the vulture dis- 

 covers its food by means of the organ of smell or 

 that of sight. I apprehend that its powers of vision 

 are very considerable, and of most important use to 

 the bird in that point of view ; but that it is prin- 

 cipally from highly organized olfactories that it so 

 speedily receives intelligence of where the savoury 

 morsel is to be found, will plainly appear by the 

 following facts. In hot climates the burial of the 

 dead commonly takes place in about twenty-four 

 hours alter death, and that necessarily, so rapidly 

 does decomposition take place. On one occasion 



I had to make a post-mortem examination of a body- 

 within twenty hours after death, in a mill-house, 

 completely concealed, and while so engaged the 

 roof of the mill-house was quickly studded with 

 these birds. Another instance was that of an old 

 patient and much-valued friend who died at mid- 

 night : the family had to send for necessaries for 

 the funeral to Spanish Town, distant thirty miles, so 

 that the interment could not take place till noon 

 next day, or thirty-six hours after his decease, long 

 before which time, and a most painful sight it was, 

 the ridge of the shingled roof of his house, a large 

 mansion of but one floor, had a number of these 

 melancholy-looking heralds of death perched there- 

 on, besides many more which had settled on trees 

 in its immediate vicinity. In these cases the birds 

 must have been directed by smell alone, as sight 

 was totally out of the question." 



In opposition to the above opinion, it has been 

 stated by Mr. Audubon that vultures and other 

 birds of prey possess the sense of smell in a very in- 

 ferior degree to carnivorous quadrupeds ; and that, 

 so far from guiding them to their prey from a dis- 

 tance, it affords them no indication of its presence 

 even when close at hand. In confirmation of this 

 opinion he relates that he stuffed a skin of a deer 

 full of hay and placed it in a field, and that in a 

 few minutes a vulture lighted near it, and directly 

 proceeded to attack it ; but finding no eatable food 

 at length quitted it. He further relates that a dead 

 dog was concealed in a narrow ravine, twenty feet 

 beneath the surface of the ground around it, and 

 filled with briars and high canes ; that many vul- 

 tures were seen sailing in all directions over the 

 spot, but that none discovered it. I may remark 

 upon the above experiments that the deer was 

 doubtless seen by the birds, but it does not follow 

 that they might not also have smelt the hide, 

 though inodorous to the human nose ; in the second 

 case, the birds had undoubtedly been attracted by 

 the smell, however embarrassed they might have 

 been by the concealment of the object which caused 

 it. I have in many hundred instances seen the 

 vulture feeding upon small objects under rocks and 

 bushes, and in other situations, where it was utterly- 

 impossible that the bird could have discovered it 

 but through the sense of smell ; and we are to recol- 

 lect that the habit of the vulture is that of soaring 

 aloft in the air, and not that of foraging upon the 

 ground. 



The inference we have drawn from experiments, 

 anatomy, and analogy, is, that both the eye and the 

 olfactory organs of the vulture (and we may add the 

 crow, the raven, &c.) aid this bird in its pursuit of 

 food. We generally find every sense in due degree 

 subservient to the necessities, habits, and appointed 

 work of animals ; hence, where odour is a prevailing 

 characteristic of food, that the organs of the animal 

 intended to devour that food should be insensible to 

 it, seems an anomaly. 



1266, 1267, 1268.— The Egyptian Vulture 

 (Neophron Percnopterus). Vautour Ourigourap of 

 Vaillant ; Rachamah, or Pharaoh's Chicken, of Bruce 

 and others; Avoltoio aquilina and Caporaccajo of 

 the Italians; Maltese Vultur, Latham. This spe- 

 cies is found in Spain, Portugal, Malta, Turkey, and 

 in the Archipelago; abundant in Africa, Arabia, 

 Persia, and Southern Russia. In October, 1825, one 

 of these birds, gorged with food, was shot near 

 Kilve, near Somersetshire, and is now in the pos- 

 session of the Rev. A. Matthew, of that place ; and 

 another of the same species was seen, but escaped. 

 The utility of these birds in Egypt and other parts 

 of the East, in clearing the streets of filth of every 

 description, a task which they undertake in com- 

 mon with the pariah dogs, has been often alluded 

 to by travellers. Nor were the services of this vul- 

 ture less valued in ancient than in modern times : 

 it was among the number of the sacred animals of 

 Egypt, and is often accurately represented on their 

 monuments. Hence the appellation of Pharaoh's 

 Chicken. A constant attendant, on the caravan as 

 it pursues its way from town to town ; an assiduous 

 frequenter of the shambles ; an industrious searcher 

 for carrion, it merits, at least as far as public utility 

 is concerned, the regards of the community : nor 

 are its services overlooked — if not reverenced in 

 the present day as a deity, it is still protected as a 

 benefactor. In the neighbourhood of Gibraltar, 

 and in the south of Spain generally, flocks of this 

 vulture are annually seen: most probably they 

 winter in Africa, but of this we have no decided 

 information. Captain S. E. Cook says that he saw 

 them, near Seville, following the track of the 

 plough, like rooks, in order to devour the grubs in 

 the upturned soil. 



The long and ample wings of the Egyptian vul- 

 ture give it amazing powers of flight, and enable it 

 to soar with great buoyancy. Like the rest of the 

 family, however, when gorged to repletion with its 

 foul diet, it becomes so sluggish and unwieldy as 

 scarcely to be able to raise itself from the ground 



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