THE ARABIAN VULTURE. 
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general color of tire plumage is black, mingled with, brown, the secondaries being slightly 
tipped with white, and a few of the coverts edged with the same tint. On the neck, the back, 
the shoulders, and the scapularies, the black hue is shot with bronze, green and purple. Be- 
neath the thick plumage is a light coating of soft white down, which apparently serves to 
preserve the creature at a proper temperature. The bare skin of the neck is not as wrinkled 
as in the zopilote, and the feathers make a complete ring round the neck. There is but little 
difference in the plumage of the two sexes, but the bill of the male is pure white. 
The Turkey Buzzard has a larger range than the other species. Its true habitat seems to 
be near the tropical line, but in summer it extends to the British Provinces of North America. 
It rarely, however, ventures eastward into the New England States. 
COMMON ARABIAN VULTURE .— Yultur monachus. 
Burroughs Vulture is the smallest of the tribe. Its habitat is on the Mexican Gulf, and 
Pacific side, and Lower California. 
We now arrive at the true Vultures, the first of which is the common Arabian Vulture, 
a bird which is spread over a large portion of the globe, being found in various parts of 
Europe, Asia, and Africa. 
It is a large bird, measuring nearly four feet in length, and the expansion of its wings 
being proportionately wide. The general color of this species is a chocolate brown, the naked 
portions of the neck and head are of a bluish hue, and it is specially notable for a tuft of long 
soft feathers which spring from the insertion of the wings. In spite of its large size and great 
muscular powers, the Arabian Vulture is not a dangerous neighbor even to the farmer, for 
unless it is pressed by severe hunger, it seems rather to have a dread of living animals, and 
