266 
TURKEY VULTURE. 
and bones being in their natural places, the flesh being, as it 
were, scooped out, and the wound, by which the Eagles enter the 
body, being ever in the belly, you would not, till you had come 
up to the skeleton, have had the least suspicion that any such mat- 
ter had happened. The Dutch at the Cape frequently call those 
Eagles, on account of their tearing out the entrails of beasts, 
Strunt-Vogelsy i. e. Dung-birds. It frequently happens, that an ox 
that is freed from the plough, and left to find his way home, lies 
down to rest himself by the way ; and if he does so, ’tis a great 
chance but the Eagles fall upon him and devour him. They at- 
tack an ox or cow in a body, consisting of an hundred and up- 
wards.”* 
Buffbn conjectures that this mui'derous Vulture is the Tur- 
key-buzzard, and concludes his history of the latter with the fol- 
lowing invective against the whole fraternity ; In every part of 
the globe they are voracious, slothful, offensive and hateful, and, 
like the wolves, are as noxious during their life, as useless after 
their death.” 
It turns out, however, that this ferocious Vulture is not the 
Turkey-buzzard, as may be seen in Levaillant’s “Histoire Natu- 
relle des Oiseaux d'Afrique,” vol. 1, pi. 10, where the Chasse-fiente 
or Strunt-Vogel is figured and described. The truth of Kolben^s 
story is doubtful j and we would express our regret, that enlighten- 
ed naturalists should so readily lend an ear to the romances of 
travellers, who, to excite astonishment, freely give currency to 
every ridiculous tale, which the designing or the credulous impose 
upon them. 
The Turkey Vulture is two feet and a half in length, and six 
feet two inches in breadth ; the bill from the corner of the mouth 
is almost two inches and a half long, of a dark horn colour for 
somewhat more than an inch from the tip, the nostril a remarkably 
* Medley’s Kolben, vol. ii, p. 135. 
