The Hijlory ^ANIMALS. 357 
and tail a glowing tinge of red along with the dark colour, feen in feme particular 
lights very beautiful. 
The legs are very robuft and long; they are feathered down to a confiderabie depth, 
but not quite to the toes: the naked part is yellow, and the claws are very long, 
fharD, and black. 
This fpecies is a native of the Eaft, and flies ufually in confiderabie numbers toge¬ 
ther j it is an extreamly beautiful, but a very terrible, bird : it’s wings are fo long, 
that it makes a great noife in flying; and it’s legs are fo well formed for running alio, 
that it purfues it’s prey on foot, and will often overtake it that way. It is very vora¬ 
cious ; it feeds on birds and quadrupeds, and does not decline feafting on carcaffes of 
any kind. Moft of the authors who have written on this part of natural hiftory, have 
deferibed it. Aldrovand calls it Vultur Leporarius, from it’s feeding on bares 5 and many 
of the later writers have borrowed that name from him. The natives of the countries, 
where it is frequent, are not only afraid for the young of their cattle, but even for 
their children. 
Vultur pedibus cceruleis , dorfo nigrkante. gOlMit- 
The blue-legged Vultur , with a blackijh bach btCilftti) fittltttlL 
This is a very large, and a very beautiful, bird ; it’s fize is equal to that of a tur¬ 
key-cock, and it is remarkably {lately in it’s port and manner of {landing: the head 
is large, and rifing on the crown, not flatted: the eyes are very large and piercing ; 
their iris is a deep hazel, but the whole afpedt of the face is difagreeable : the beak is 
very long for a bird of prey, and very ftrong ; it is rounded on the upper part, and 
runs ftraight from the head, almofl to the extremity, where it is very hooked and 
fharp: it is throughout of a horn colour, and the membrane which covers the bafe is 
bluifh-black; the noftrils are very confpicuous in this, and {land tranfverfely. 
The back and {boulders are of a very deep colour, approaching to black, but in 
fome places, efpecially toward the neck, they are variegated with a few fpots of a fer- 
rugineous brown, and in fome parts with white ones, but thefe are few and fmall: 
the breaft and belly are of a kind of pale and very bright orange colour: the yellow in 
this is predominant, but there is every-where a tinge of the reddifh : there is more of 
this toward the neck, and on the upper part of the bread, than elfewhere, and the 
belly is almofl Amply yellow. 
The long feathers of the wings are of a deep duiky brown, fomewhat paler on 
the upper fide than on the under : the tail is moderately long, and is of the fame co¬ 
lour with the wings: the legs are robufl and remarkably long; they are very thick 
covered with feathers on the upper part, but this does not reach quite to the feet: the 
naked part is of a deep bluifh colour: the feet are large ; the toes long aqd thick, and 
the claws very formidable. 
This is a native of the Eaft, and we have fometimes the fkin of it fluffed, brought 
over by people of curioflty, who have been up the Levant; but the living animal has 
not been feen in Europe. Some of the writers on birds have deferibed it but imper- 
fedtly. Gefner, from the colour of it’s breaft, and more efpecially of it’s belly, calls 
it Vultur Aureus, and others have borrowed the fame name ; whence thofe who have 
known nothing of it farther than the name, which is the cafe of the generality of 
thofe vvho at this time call themielves naturalifts, have fuppofed it to be all over of a 
gold yellow. It is a very rapacious bird, and feizes on almofl every thing fmaller than 
itfelf, but it feeds more on quadrupeds than birds. 
Vultur 
