198 
WANDERINGS IN 
THIRD 
JOURNEY 
blue veins, which appear on it just like the blue veins 
- on the arm of a fair-complexioned person. The tail 
and long wing-feathers are black, the belly white, 
and the rest of the body a fine satin colour. 
I cannot be persuaded that the vultures ever feed 
upon live animals, not even upon lizards, rats, mice, 
or frogs; I have watched them for hours together, 
but never could see them touch any living animals, 
though innumerable lizards, frogs, and small birds 
swarmed all around them. I have killed lizards and 
frogs, and put them in a proper place for observation; 
as soon as they began to stink, the aura vulture in¬ 
variably came and took them off. I have frequently 
observed, that the day after the planter had burnt the 
trash in a cane-field, the aura vulture was sure to be 
there, feeding on the snakes, lizards, and frogs which 
had suffered in the conflagation. I often saw a large 
bird (very much like the common gregarious vulture 
at a distance) catch and devour lizards ; after shoot¬ 
ing one, it turned out to be not a vulture, but a 
hawk, with a tail squarer and shorter than hawks 
have in general. The vultures, like the goatsucker 
and woodpecker, seem to be in disgrace with man. 
They are generally termed a voracious, stinking, 
cruel, and ignoble tribe. Under these impressions, 
the fowler discharges his gun at them, and probably 
thinks he has done well in ridding; the earth of such 
vermin. 
Some governments impose a fine on him who kills 
a vulture. This is a salutary law, and it were to be 
wished that other governments would follow so good 
