VULTURID.E. 



7 



These are smaller and fiercer birds, and are more 

 filthy in their habits than those of the two preceding 

 genera ; they prey upon the foulest carrion, not dis- 

 daining even excrementitious matter, thereby being 

 of infinite service in clearing the surface of the ground 

 from those noxious substances. 



Sp. 1. Pe. iEgyptiacus. 



Vultur Percnopterus. Sha^w, v. y'n.p. 33. — Vultur ginginianus- 

 Shaw, V. Yii. p. 32. — Inhabits the warmer and temperate regions 

 of the old continent. 

 Sp. 2. Pe. Aura. 



Vultur iVura. Shatjo, v. viii. p. 36. — Inhabits the new conti- 

 nent, in similar regions to the last. 



Sp. 3. Pe. Uruba. 



Pe. obscure niger, macula alarum alba. 

 Dull-black Percnopteius with a white spot on the wings. 

 Vultur Uruba. VieiL Ois. tV Amer. Sept. pi. 2. — Vultur atratus. 

 — Turkey Buzzard. Wils. Amer, Orn. v. \x. p. 104. pi. Ixxv. 

 /.2. 



Rather less than the immediately preceding : beak 

 and legs white : irides reddish-hazel : head and neck 

 covered with a pale ash-coloured down, mixed with a 

 few hairs^ but not carunculated : the general colour 

 of the plumage is plain bluish-grey : in the old birds 

 nearly black and slightly glossy ; wings yellowish- 

 white beneath : the tail even at the end. 



The eggs of this species are two in number, and 

 are of a sooty-white. 



Inhabits nearly the same regions of America as the 

 last described, and not much unlike it in manners. 



Sp. 4. Pe. Monachus. 



Pe. fusco'Spadiceus, remigibus nigris. 



