*The Hiftory of ANIMALS. 
Vultur corpore caftaneo , cauda brevi. 
The chef nut-coloured Vultur , with a port tail. 
%\)t mm 
Mnltm* 
This is a large and noble bird, but it is fomewhat inferior to the former in fize • it 
is about equal, in that refpedt, to a full-grown hen": the head is large, and rounded at the 
top, not flatted, as in moil of the birds of prey: the neck is long, and moderately thick * 
it is not abfolutely naked, as in the former fpecies, but has, efpecially on the hinder 
part, fome feathers ; thefe are not fhort and broad, as thole of the body, but they are 
long, and very narrow and fender, like thofe on the neck of a cock : they are of a 
bright brown, with a tinge of reddifh in it, and are very gloffy and beautiful: the 
back is of a fine bright chefnut colour, and the feathers are remarkably fhort, broad 
and elegantly arranged in the manner of fcales: the bread: and belly are covered with 
larger feathers of the fame colour and fhape ; but the long feathers of the wings and 
tail are of a very dark colour, almoft black: the upper part of the wings is a little 
paler than the back, and the rump is fomewhat darker than the upper part. 
The tail is fhort; the wings are very long, and expand to a furprizing breadth ; they 
are of a paler colour on the under fide than on the upper, and are not fo even and re¬ 
gular at the ends, as thofe of the birds of prey in general, but have more of the 
rough appearance of thofe of the wood-pecker. 
The legs are fhort, but they are extreamly robuft: they are covered with feathers 
down to the extremities of the toes, and the whole foot has an appearance of great 
ftrength : the claws are long, black, and very terrible: the beak is long, and very ro¬ 
bufl:; it is ffraight all the way, from the head to near the extremity, but there it 
is turned down and very fharp. 
This fpecies is a native of fome parts of Africa, but it is more rarely feen 
among us than the other. None of the Vulturs are wild in this part of the world 
but this is fo tender, that it is not to be kept alive by art. I faw one expofed for a 
fhow in London, about four years fince, but it was then dying. It is a very bold 
feeder, but it’s prey is principally the larger birds, not any thing of the quadruped 
kind 5 it is ufually feen fingle. Mold of the writers on birds have named it : they 
call it Vultur fufcus, and Vultur Boeticus, from it’s colour, this being a term very fre¬ 
quently ufed among the naturalifts, to exprefs that kind of brown which we ufually 
diftinguifh by the word chefnut colour. 
Vultur capite criftato, pedibus flavis. %%£ t&ttltttt fUpOr&tl'US, 
The yellow-legged, crefted ultur .. p? 
This is a very noble and majeftic bird ; it is of the bignefs of a goofe, and is very 
eredt and ftately in it’s appearance : the head is large, and almoft naked, except that 
it has a feries of not very long feathers on the crown, toward the hinder part, which 
it eredts at pleafure, and which, in that ftate, form a very beautiful creft: as it 
flies, they are ufually laid flat to the head ; but, when it ftands or fits, they are 
ufually eredt; and when it is preparing to feize it’s prey, they ftand up in a very 
peculiar manner : the beak is very large and ftrong; it is ftraight and thick all the 
way, till near the point, but there it turns down, and becomes hooked and very fharp; 
it is of a blackifh colour: the tip is quite black and extreamly hard : the mem¬ 
brane that covers it’s bafe is yellow, and the noftrils are placed tranfverfely in it, and 
are very large and confpicuous: the eyes are bold and piercing, but they are not beau¬ 
tiful, and the whole afpedt is indeed rather difguftful and forbidding. 
The back and upper part of the wings are of a beautiful gloffy colour, between a 
reddifh-brown and black : the breaft is paler, and approaches to an orange colour, 
with a great predominance of the yellow : the wings are darker, and their long fea¬ 
thers are almoft black, as is alfo the tail: the wings are extreamly long, and fpread to 
a furprifing extent, as the birds fly, and the tail alfo is long ; there is both in the wflngs 
and 
