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VULTURES. 



It builds in rocky caverns. The female lays two white eggs, and 

 sometimes, but very rarely, three. In October these vultures begin to 

 pair, and in January the young ones are all hatched. As they live in 

 very large flocks, a single mountain will contain as many nests as it 

 has places adapted for them. It is worthy of remark, that vultures 

 never build on trees, at least in Africa ; and I am very much deceived 

 if they do in any other part of the world. They appear to live toge- 

 ther in great harmony ; for I have sometimes seen in the same cavern 

 as many as three nests side by side. 



During the period of incubation, each male stations himself as senti- 

 nel at the mouth of the cave in which his female is sitting : a circum- 

 stance from which it is easy to discover the situation of the nest, which 

 on the other hand is almost always inaccessible. I have, however, by 

 the assistance of my Hottentots, occasionally vanquished all difficulties, 

 and often risked my life to examine the eggs of these birds ; their 

 dwellings are disgusting, and infected with an insupportable stench. 

 To approach these obscure retreats is attended with great danger, as 

 the entrance to them is covered with dung, which is always in a fluid 

 state, from water which continually filters through the cracks of the 

 rocks : so that in happening to slip on one of these rocky points, we 

 run the risk of falling down the frightful precipices above which these 

 birds usually establish themselves. 



I have tasted the eggs of the oricou as well as those of the chasse- 

 fiente, and found them very good for use. 



At its birth, the young oricou is covered with a whitish down. On 

 leaving the nest, its plumage is of a pale brown, and all its feathers are 

 tinged with red on the borders : those of the breast and belly are not 

 yet sabre-shaped, and its head and neck are entirely covered with 

 a fine thick down, and the stripes round its ears are hardly perceptible ; 

 which often misleads inexperienced naturalists, and induces them to 

 consider it as an eagle, or vulture of a different species ; though it is not 

 difficult to distinguish a vulture from an eagle by the form only of 

 the claws — a character much more decisive than that of a bare head, 

 which in all vultures, while young, is covered over with down. In tnis 

 way, who can point out in the numerous works on birds all the young 

 vultures which have been regarded as eagles, although there is nothing 

 more easy than to distinguish a young from an old bird ? But on this 

 subject, I repeat, that a single glance from an experienced naturalist is 

 unquestionably worth more than the scrupulous testimony of all those 



