KING VULTURE. 
41 
ground or upon an isolated tree, but may be approached 
and readily killed, when in the woods, or in some place to 
which carrion has attracted it. While this bird is feed- 
ing, either through fear or aversion, the common Vul- 
tures or Turkey-Buzzards keep at a distance, and are 
contented with the fragments left by their monarch. 
According to M. de Azara, it makes its nest in hollow 
trees, where it lays 2 eggs. 
The bill of this species is straight for one third of its length, then 
strongly curved, and surrounded at its base by a membrane which 
forms, on either side up to the eyes, a large depression, in which are 
situated the ample openings of the nostrils ; between these arises a 
kind of loose, soft crest, which moves readily from one side to the oth- 
er, its extremity terminating in a remarkable cluster of warts. The 
crown of the head is naked and of a scarlet color ; a band of very 
short black hairs goes from one eye to the other across the hind- 
head. Below the naked part of the neck there is a very handsome 
plumy, greyish collar, with the feathers directed backward and for- 
ward ; it is sufficiently large to allow the bird at will to retract and 
hide his neck and part of his head. Behind the eye are some large 
wrinkles which come together on the hind-head and form a salient, 
fleshy, orange band, which descends from thence to the collar ; these 
wrinkles hide the auditory canal, which is very small, and after- 
wards unite with the other wrinkles which extend to the bill ; be- 
twixt these wrinkles we perceive a down as well as on the other 
sides of the head. The quills and the great coverts of the wings, the 
tail, a space over the back, and the bill up to the membrane, with 
the feet, are black. The membrane and the fleshy crest of the beak 
are orange ; the naked skin at the base of the bill is purple ; the 
edges of the eye-brows are of a lively red ; the sides of the neck are 
flesh-colored, purple below the head, yellow above, and of a darkish 
violet near to the band, and the wrinkles of the hind-head. The iris, 
and all the rest of the plumage, are white. Some individuals, sup- 
posed to be males, have a feeble tint of red with the white of the 
upper part of the back. Total length 29 \ inches (French). This 
description applies to the bird when it has accomplished its 4th 
year. 
At 3 years of age there is some black in the middle of the white 
wing coverts. At 2 years of age, the whole head and the naked 
4* 
