18 BEARDED VULTURE. 



yards from me, the pan with the meat being be- 

 tween me and him. As the field was clear before 

 me, and I did not know but his next move might 

 bring him opposite to some of my people, and so 

 tbat he might actually get the rest of the meat and 

 make off, I shot him with the ball through the mid- 

 dle of his body about two inches below the wing, 

 so that he lay down upon the grass without a 

 single flutter. Upon laying hold of his monstrous 

 carcase, I was not a little surprised at seeing my 

 hands covered and tinged with a yellow powder or 

 dust. Upon turning him upon his belly, and exa- 

 mining the feathers of his back, they produced a 

 brown dust, the colour of the feathers there. This 

 dust was not in small quantities, for, upon striking 

 his breast, the yellow powder flew in fully greater 

 quantity than from a hair-dresser's powder-puff. 

 The feathers of the belly and breast, which were 

 of a gold-colour, did not appear to have any thing 

 extraordinary in their formation, but the large 

 feathers in the shoulder and wings seemed ap- 

 parently to be fine tubes, which upon pressure 

 scattered this dust upon the finer part of the 

 feather, but this was brown, the colour of the 

 feathers of the back. Upon the sides of the wing, 

 the ribs or hard part of the feather seemed to be 

 bare, as if worn, or, I rather think, were renewing 

 themselves, having before failed in their function." 



There is little doubt but that this species is twice 

 particularized in the Gmelinian edition of the 

 Systema Nature of Linnaeus under the names of 

 Vultur barbatus and Vultur barbarus. In this the 



