34 
BIRDS OF PREY. 
they can elevate themselves to a prodigious height, ascending and 
descending in wide spiral circles. Their sight, like that of the 
Hawks and Eagles, is keen ; and the organ of scent was improp- 
erly supposed to be very perfect. They nest often amidst inaccessi- 
ble rocks, laying but two eggs, and bear in their ample craw nour- 
ishment for their young, which they disgorge before them. They 
moult once in the year : and difference of size alone distinguishes 
the sexes in appearance. 
None of the Vultures, properly so called, exist out of the ancient 
continent; but the genus Cathartes , which comprehends our Vul- 
tures, admits of geographical and natural sections, the transatlantic 
species being still separable from those of America. 
1. CATHARTES. 
In this genus the bill is long and straight, merely curved towards 
the point ; the cere is naked and extending beyond the middle of 
the beak ; the nostrils oval, naked and pervious ; and situated 
about the centre of the bill : the tongue channeled, with the edges 
serrated. — Head elongated, flattened, and wrinkled. The tarsus 
or leg rather slender and naked ; the side toes equal, the mid- 
dle toe long and united to the exterior at its base ; the hind one 
shortest. The first primary, or quill, rather short, the third long- 
est. In the American section of the genus, the bill is rather 
stout; and the tail consists of 12 feathers. 
