160 A DESCRIPTION OP 
tribe, and should be placed after the Vultures, because 
the eagles are nobler in their habits, and more delicate in 
their appetites. The eagle, unless pressed by famine, will 
not stoop to carrion ; and only devours what he has earned 
by his own pursuit. The Vulture, on the contrary, is in- 
delicately voracious ; and seldom attacks living animals 
when it can be supplied with dead. The eagle meets and 
singly opposes his enemy ; the Vulture, if it expects re- 
sistance, calls in the aid of its kind, and overpowers its 
prey by'combination. Putrefaction, instead of deterring, 
only serves to allure it. The Vulture seems among birds 
what the jackal and hyaena are among quadrupeds, who 
prey upon carcasses, and root up the dead. 
Vultures may be easily distinguished from all the eagles 
by the nakedness of their heads and necks, which are 
without feathers, and only covered with a very slight 
down, or a few scattered hairs ; their eyes are more promi- 
nent; those of the eagle being buried more in the socket, 
and shaded by an overhanging eyebrow. Their claws 
are shorter, and less hooked. The inside of the wing is 
covered with a thick down, which is different in them 
from all other birds of prey. Their attitude is not so up- 
right as that of the eagle, and their flight is more difficult 
and heavy. 
In this description we may include the Golden, the Ash- 
coloured, and the Brown Vulture, which are inhabitants 
of Europe ; the Spotted and the Black Vulture of Egypt ; 
the Bearded Vulture, the Brazilian Vulture, and the 
King of the Vultures, of South America. They all agree 
in their nature ; being equally indolent, yet rapacious 
and unclean. The Condor also belongs to the Vulture 
tribe. The King of the Vultures is the species repre- 
sented in the plate. The head and neck of this bird are 
without feathers ; the body above, reddish buff, beneath, 
yellowish white ; quills greenish black ; tail black ; craw 
pendulous, orange-coloured. It is about the size of a 
