824 



AFRICA. 



tur fulvus) is found in a!i parts of Africa, and feeds, like otliers of its tribe, on dead carcasses 

 The Egyptian Vulture is very useful in destroying rats and mice. 



The Secretary Vulture ( Gypogeranus scrpenlarius) is styled by the Hottentots the serpent- 

 eater, from the avidity with whicii it catches and devours those noxious reptiles. It may be 

 easily tamed. The Sociable Vulture {V. auricularis) is of gigantic size, and is very numerous 



Secretary Vulture, Sociable Vultures. 



in the interior of Africa. In dimensions, it is full equal to the Condor. Like all other vul. 

 tures, this is a bird of the mountains, the sheltered retreats formed by their caves and fissures 

 constituting its proper habitation. In them it passes the night, and reposes, after it has sated 

 its appetite, during the day. At sunrise, large bands are seen perched on the rocks at the en- 

 trance of their abodes, and sometimes a continued chain of mountains exhibits them dispersed 

 throughout the greater part of its extent. Their tails are always worn down by friction against 

 the stones, between which they thrust themselves, or on which they perch. 



The Dodo, formerly an inhabitant of Mauritius, is now extinct. The Crowned Crane (Ba- 



Crowned Cranes. 



learica pavonina) is a very splendid species, inhabiting swampy places in Guinea. Like other 

 cranes, it subsists on grain and insects, and at Cape Verd it is so tame as often to come, of its own 



