84 * VULTURES. 



ACCESSORY CHARACTERS. 



Wings long; the first quill shorter than the sixth ; the fourth longest. The 

 crop forming a projection above the fork bone, and covered with a thick down. 

 Head and Neck partly destitute of feathers ; prominent eyes. 



Vultures have a very sharp face (fades bien tranchee) this character is peculiar 

 to them, and distinguishes them from all kinds of hawks. They are dastardly, 

 cruel, and voracious birds, and feed much oftener on offal than on living prey, for 

 putridity and infection will attract rather than drive them away. In hot countries, 

 as Egypt for instance, where they are in vast numbers, they render the inhabitants 

 an essential service, in purging the land of many noxious impurities, the remains 

 of carcases, which, in becoming putrid, would empoison the atmosphere. The 

 structure of their legs does not permit them to make use of their talons for the 

 purpose of carrying off their prey ; they convey the food destined for their young 

 in their crop, which is very capacious, and thence disgorge it into their bill on 

 their arrival at the nest. Their sight is exceedingly keen, and their sense of smell 

 is perfect to the highest degree ; they discharge a fetid matter from their nostrils 

 after feeding ; their crop forms a large prominence above their fork-bone. The 

 mouth is simple. 



Vultures are the only birds of prey which live and fly in flocks ; they construct 

 their nests among the most inaccessible rocks. — Savigny. 



THE ORICOU ( Vultur auricular is). 



L'Oricou, Le VailL, Ois. d'Afriq. i. p. 36, pi. 9; Shaw's Zool, vii. pi. 10; Vultur 

 auricularis, Lath. Ind. Orn. Sup. p. 1 ; Baud. Orn. ii. p. 19 ; Sociable Vulture, 

 Lath. Syn. Sup. 2d, p. 11 ; Id. Gen. Hist. i. p. 20. 



This species is larger than even the largest of our vultures, it 

 being ten feet across the wings from tip to tip. It presents one of 

 those striking characters which I think so useful for the purposes 

 of nomenclature ; it is a membrane of four lines in thickness, which 

 encircles the front of the ear, and is then continued in a straight line 

 upon the neck. This kind of raised concha is four or five inches long, 

 and must necessarily improve the faculty of hearing in this species. 

 The entire head and one half of the neck are naked, and of a flesh-red 

 colour, assuming a violet-blue tint towards the beak, and a whitish one 

 towards the ears ; a few short and sparse hairs are only to he seen on 

 this coloured skin. The gorge is black, and is covered with rigid hairs 

 of the same colour. All the feathers of the upper part of the body, 

 together with the wings and tail, are of a dull brown colour, but tinged 

 with a lighter shade at the borders ; those of the back part of the neck 

 are curved backwards and upwards, forming a sort of cravat, in which 

 the bird, by drawing in its neck, conceals all that part of it which is 

 bare of feathers ; it is especially during the digestion of its food that 



