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He was, which people must respect 
In princes, and which pleases vulgarly , 
Of goodly personage and of sweet aspect. Daniel. 
VU'LGATE, adj. [vulgatus , Latin.] Belonging to a 
noted Latin version of the Old and New Testament.—The 
Latin vulgate Bible was declared authentic, and canonized 
by the Council of Trent, A.D. 1546. Pope Sixtus Quintus 
corrected it with his own hand. Blackmail. 
VU'LGATE, s. An ancient Latin translation of the 
Bible; the only one which the Church of Rome acknow¬ 
ledges to be authentic. Chambers. 
VULNERABLE, adj. [vulnerabilis , Lat.] Susceptive 
of wounds; liable to external injuries. 
Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests : 
I bear a charmed life, which must not yield 
To one of woman born. ShaJcspeare. 
VULNERARY, adj. [yulnerarius, Lat.] Useful in the 
cure of wounds.—I kept the orifice open, and prescribed him 
vulneraries. Wiseman. 
To VULNERATE, v. a. \yulnero, Lat.] To wound; 
to hurt.—There is an intercourse between the magnetic un¬ 
guent and the vulncratcd body. Glanville. 
VU'LNERA'TION, s. Act of wounding; infliction of 
wounds. Cockeram. —When God foretels by the prophet 
Zachary what he should suffer from the sons of men, he says 
expressly, “ they shall look upon me whom they have 
piercedand therefore shews that he speaks of the Son of 
God, which was to be the Son of man, and by our nature 
liable to vulneration; and withal foretels the piercing of his 
body. Pearson. 
VULPINE, adj. [yulpinus, Lat.; vulpine, old French.] 
Belonging to a fox; like a fox.—The slyness of a vulpine 
craft. Fe/tham. 
VULTURE, s. [ vultur , Lat.] A large bird of prey, re¬ 
markable for voracity. 
We’ve willing dames enough, there cannot be 
That vulture in you to devour so many, 
As will to greatness dedicate themselves. Shakspeare. 
VULTUR, or Vulture, in Ornithology, a genus of birds 
belonging to the order of Accipitres, or hawks. The cha¬ 
racters are, that the bill is straight, and hooked only at the 
apex, and covered at the base by a cere or skin; that the 
head has no feathers, and covered in front with a naked 
skin ; that the tongue is fleshy, and generally bifid, the neck 
retractile, and the feet strong, with moderately crooked claws. 
1. Vultur gryphus, or vulture condor, or largest vulture, or 
black vulture, with the shorter wing-feathers white; the head 
furnished with an upright, compressed, fleshy crest or comb ; 
the throat naked and red; and the neck carunculated on each 
side. These birds, which are more frequently seen in Peru 
than in any other parts of South America, were brought from 
the straits of Magellan. They were supposed to be male and 
female. The male bird has “ a kind of gular pouch, or large 
dilated skin, of a blueish colour, proceeding from the base of 
the lower mandible, and reaching to some distance down the 
neck. On each side of the neck is also situated a row or 
series of flat, carneous, semicircular, or ear-shaped flaps or 
appendages, to the number of seven on each side, and which 
gradually decrease in size as they descend; being so disposed 
as to lap slightly over each other. The whole neck and breast 
are of a red colour, and perfectly bare of feathers; being only 
coated here and there with a few straggling filaments of 
blackish hair or coarse down. The colour of the lateral 
wattles or carunculse inclines to blueish. The crest or comb 
on the head is large, upright, thick at the base, sharpened on 
its edge, and not entirely even in its outline, but somewhat 
sinuated, sinking slightly in the middle, and rising higher on 
the back part: it is smooth, and irregularly convex on the 
sides, and in its texture or substance not greatly dissimilar to 
that of the vultur papa of Linnaeus, or king vulture. At a 
slight distance behind this, on each side, is situated a much 
smaller, semi-oval nuchal crest, of a similar substance, and 
beset with coarse down. The colour of the crest is blackish, 
slightly inclining to red and blue in some parts. Towards 
the lower part of the neck is a pendant pear-shaped tubercle: 
the lower part of the neck is surrounded by a collar of milk- 
white down or fine plumes, representing exactly a tippet of 
white fur. The extent of the bird, from wing’s end to wing's 
end, was said to be more than twelve feet when measured 
immediately after it was shot.” 
The back of the bird has been erroneously described as 
white, whereas it is coal-black; an error evidently owing to 
the bird’s having been seen with the wings closed over the 
back, so that the white secondaries covered it from view. 
Gmelin copied this error from Molina, and thus Mr. Latham 
was misled. In their descriptions, the tail is said to be 
small, which, on the contrary, is rather large in proportion 
to the bird. The supposed female had not the least appear¬ 
ance of a comb on the head, which, with some other par¬ 
ticulars, inclined Dr. Shaw to conclude that it was either a 
young bird or a female. The extent of its wings from tip to 
tip was not far short of ten feet. Another of these birds, 
mentioned in the 18th volume of the Phil. Trans, and shot 
in Chili, had wings which extended more than sixteen feet. 
The beak of the fore-mentioned female was of a dark lead 
colour, becoming gradually whitish towards the tip. The 
head and neck were destitute of feathers, but covered with 
a short straggling sort of hairy down ; the top of the head 
inclined to a dark colour, but the rest of the neck was paler, 
and probably in the living bird of a reddish colour. To¬ 
wards the lower part of the neck, where it joins to the 
shoulders, was a ruff or circle of white downy feathers; and 
beneath the breast a considerable bare space : the rest of the 
bird was black, except the shorter or secondary wing-fea¬ 
thers, which were white with black tips: the legs and feet 
were blackish, very strong, but the claws not much incur- 
vated -.-the tail even at the end, and very slightly rounded 
at the sides. On comparing the remiges or wing-feathers 
of this bird with some of those which were brought over by 
Mr. Byron as those of the real condor, Dr. Shaw found 
them to be exactly similar, except in size. From an examin¬ 
ation of these specimens, Dr. S. concluded that the phy¬ 
siognomy of this bold and formidable vulture is not of a fe¬ 
rocious cast, but rather exhibiting an appearance almost bor¬ 
dering on mildness.—M. Humboldt makes some deduction 
for the alleged size of this bird, as he had seen none wdiich 
exceeded 3 feet 3 inches in length, and 8 feet 9 inches in 
extent from the end of one wing to that of the other. He 
admits, however, that the condor may sometimes be sup¬ 
posed to arrive at a much greater magnitude, and to measure 
in extent of wings 11 or 12 feet. Its usual residence, as he 
informs us, is among lofty rocks in the region of the Andes, 
just below the boundaries of perpetual snow, and it may be 
considered as a co-inhabitant with the guanaco. 
Nothing can exceed the sagacity with which the condor 
perceives the scent of its prey at a distance, or the boldness 
with which it flies down to seize it. It preys both on dead 
and living animals, and two birds will seize on a heifer, and 
begin their work of destruction by picking the eyes and 
tearing the tongue out. 
2. Vultur Bengalensis, or the brown vulture.—With the 
head and neck naked before, and faintly chesnut-colour; 
the bill lead colour, with black tip ; or brown vulture, paler 
beneath, with the head and neck covered by fuscous down ; 
the lower part encircled by a brown ruff. This is the Bengal 
vulture of Latham, two feet six inches in length; bill and 
legs dusky black, and crop hanging over the breast, as is 
the case in many others of the vulture tribe. 
3. Vultur papa.—With carunculated nostrils, and naked 
crown and neck; or whitish-rufescent vulture, with naked 
variegated head and neck; nostrils furnished with a loose 
orange-coloured caruncle, and neck with a grey ruff. This 
is the king of the vultures of Edwards, and exceeds every 
other species in the elegance of its appearance, about the 
size of a hen turkey, and of a light-reddish brown or buff 
colour, with black wings and tail, accompanied witli a gloss 
of green, the edges of the wing-feathers being of a whitish 
cast; the. under parts of the body are white, with a slight 
cast 
