124 



VULTURES. 



Before I compared the Chasse-Fiente with these two birds, I was of 

 opinion that it belonged to the species of percnoptera : but from the 

 confrontation of these three birds I saw that I was mistaken, and that 

 the Chasse- Fiente was a new species to be added to the other two, which 

 bear more resemblance to it than any other description of vulture. 



The Chasse-Fiente should not be confounded with the percnoptera, 

 since the character of the latter, in having- its wings shorter and tail 

 longer than the eagle's, is in no respect appropriate to the former, whose 

 wings, on the contrary, are longer and tail shorter ; besides, its head is 

 of a clear blue, and its neck is not covered with a white but yellowish 

 down. In a word, the Chasse-Fiente has not that brown heart-shaped 

 spot on the breast which is peculiar in the percnoptera, and its colour 

 is altogether different. The Chasse-Fiente cannot, moreover, be con- 

 sidered as a variety of the vulture, depicted in Buffon's plates, No. 425. 

 A single glance at the two figures will convince those who shall take the 

 trouble to compare them together. 



The general colour of the Chasse-Fiente borders on Isabella yellow, 

 and afterwards approaches what is called pale coffee brown. Some of 

 the small wing coverts are marked with a deeper tint, and the large 

 quills are blackish. At the nape of the neck is a sort of ruffle com- 

 posed of long and slender feathers, curved by the friction of the head, 

 which they totally conceal when the bird shrugs up its shoulders. The 

 feathers, which cover the legs, descend a little over the fore part of the 

 shank ; the large scales, which cover the legs and toes, are brownish. 

 The claws are blackish horn colour, as well as the bill. The iris of the 

 eye is of a dark brown. The male and female differ but little from 

 each other, and I never observed but a very trifling difference in their 

 size; the male, indeed, is not quite so strong; but there must neces- 

 sarily be that marked disproportion between them, which is observable 

 between the sexes in almost all other species of birds of prey. 



The Chasse-Fiente retires amongst the highest mountain rocks. 

 Immense numbers of these birds inhabit the whole of that rugged chain 

 of mountains which spreads over the point of Africa, from Cape Town 

 to False Bay ; whence they visit all the dwellings in the environs, and 

 find abundance to supply their hunger : for as the country in the vici- 

 nity of the town is exceedingly dry, animals can find but scanty fare, 

 and very frequently perish through want of food. Such is the cause 

 that the carcasses of several oxen, which have been abandoned by their 

 owners, are invariably to be observed in the roads. It is a providential 

 occurrence on behalf of the indolent inhabitants of these climates, 



