26 
BLACK VULTURE. 
with some curling hairs. They fly so high, that although they 
are pretty large, they are lost to the sight; and especially before 
a hail storm they will be seen wheeling, in vast numbers 
under the loftiest clouds, till they entirely disappear. They 
feed upon carrion, which they discover by the acuteness of their 
sight and smell, from the greatest height, and descend upon it 
with a majestic flight, in a great spiral course. They are both 
almost mute. The two species are distinguished, however, by 
their size, their colour, their numbers, and some other peculi- 
arities. The Zopilots, properly so called, have black feathers, 
w’ith a brown head, bill, and feet; they go often in flocks, and 
roost together upon trees. This species is very numerous, and 
is to be found in all the different climates; while on the contrary, 
the Cozcaquauhtli is far from numerous, and is peculiar to the 
warmer climates alone.* The latter bird is larger than the Zo- 
pilot, has a red head and feet, with a beak of a deep red colour, 
except towards its extremity, which is white. Its feathers are 
brown, except upon the neck and parts about the breast, which 
are of a reddish black. The wings are of an ash colour upon tlie 
inside, and upon the outside are variegated with black and 
tawny. 
“ The Cozcaquauhtli is called by the Mexicans, King of the 
Zopilots f and they say, that when these two species happen to 
meet together about the same carrion, the Zopilot never begins 
to eat till the Cozcaquauhtli has tasted it. The Zopilot is a most 
useful bird to that country, for they not only clear the fields, 
but attend the crocodiles, and destroy the eggs which the females 
of those dreadful amphibious animals leave in the sand, to be 
hatched by the heat of the sun. The destruction of such a bird 
ought to be prohibited under severe penalties.”J 
“The Jota ( ’’says the abbe Molina, “resembles 
much the Aura, a species of vulture, of which there is perhaps 
* This is a mistake. 
t Tliis is tlie Vullur aura. The bird which now goes by the name of King of 
the Zipilols, in New Sp^n, is the Vullur papa of Linnseus. 
t Clavigero’s Mexico, translated by Cullen, vol. i, p. 47, London. 
