AFRICA. gSt 
Though It had already gorged itfelf with a 
confiderable quantity of flefli (for, upon open- 
ing it, I found in its ftomach no lefs a quantity 
than fix pounds and half), yet its hunger and 
voracity were fuch, that it ftruck its beak into 
the carcafe when attempting to take wing, as 
if defirous of carrying the whole of it away. 
On the other hand, the weight of the flefh 
it had devoured, rendering it the more heavy, 
it could not eafily rife ; fo that we had time 
to reach it before it was on the wing, and we 
endeavoured to knock it on the head with the 
butt-ends of our mufl?:ets. It defended itfelf 
a long time with great intrepidity. It bit or 
ftruck at our weapons with Its beak, and ita 
ftrength was ftill fo great that every ftroke 
made a mark on the barrel of the piece. It was 
fubdued, however ; and the great pleafure 
afforded me by the pofTeifion amply recom- 
penfed all the labour and fatigue of ray little 
excurfion* 
This vulture, now in my cclledlon, and 
unqueftionably the moft beautiful of its genus, 
forms a new fpecie?, hitherto wholly unknown. 
It is more than three feet high, and eight or 
nine in breadth of wing. Its ftrength muft 
have 
