THE CAPE VULTURE.

457

year follow the caravan from Egypt to Mecca, in order to feast upon the flesh of slaughtered beasts, and the carcasses of the camels which die on the journey.

So little are these birds alarmed by the presence of mankind, that they will not even quit the places which they haunt, even when fired at with guns; but after a short flight they immediately return. If one of them be killed, the rest surround and devour it. The Vulturine Caracaro Eagle is probably a Vulture. It is found in Brazil, and feeds on carrion.

THE CAPE VULTURE.

This Vulture, in many particulars, resembles the last species. Its head, however, is of a

bright blue color, covered with a yellowish down. The plumage is somewhat of a coffee color. The small covertures of the wings are dark, and the quillfeathers blackish. The legs are brown, and the beak and claws nearly black.

The sloth, the filth, and the voracity of these birds, almost exceed credibility. Whenever they alight on a carcass that they can have liberty to tear at their ease, they gorge themselves in such a manner that they become unable to fly, and even if pursued can only hop along. At all times they are birds of slow flight, and are unable readily to raise themselves from the ground; and when overfed, they are utterly helpless. On the pressure of danger, however, they have the power of ridding themselves of their burden, by vomiting up what they have eaten; and then they fly off with great facility.

They frequent all the country at the Cape of Good Hope; and are so familiar, that they often descend, in great numbers, near the entrance to the shambles of the Cape Town, and there devour the heads, entrails, and other offals, of the animals slaughtered for the market. On the sea-shores they are also very abundaut, voraciously devouring all such animal substances as have been thrown upon the coast by the tides. They subsist likewise on crabs, tortoises, shell-fish, and even locusts. In anatomizing a dead animal, Kolben informs us that these birds exhibit infinite dexterity. They separate the flesh from the boues in such a manner as to leave the skin almost entire. On approaching a body thus destroyed, no person, till he had examined it, could possibly imagine that it was merely bone and skin, deprived entirely of the internal substance. They begin by tearing an opening in the belly, through which they pluck out and greedily devour the entrails: then entering the hollow, they also tear away all the flesh; and this without

affecting the external appearance. "It often happens (says this writer) that an ox returning home alone to his stall from the plough, lies down by the way; it is then, if the Vultures perceive it, that they fall upon it with fury, and inevitably devour the unfortunate animal. They sometimes attempt the oxen while grazing in the fields; and, to the number of a hundred or more, make their sudden attack all together." Ravenous as these animals are, they are capable of existing for a great length of time without food. In the deserts their subsistence is sometimes very precarious. M. Le Vaillant states that in the crop of some that he had killed, he had found nothing but pieces of bark, or a small quantity of clay; in the crop of others he had found only bones; and again, of others, the dung of animals. When urged by hunger, they are frequently known to devour their own species.

The Griffon Vulture is found in almost all parts of the old world. It

is one of the largest of its group, measuring upwards of four feet in length. Like most of the Vultures, it does not appear to move its wings while flying, but soars on expanded pinions in large circles, apparently gaining the necessary impetus by the movements of its head and body, just as an accomplished skater uses but little force in his various evolutions-an imperceptible inclination of the head, or sway of the body, sufficing to keep up the impetus gained at starting, and to bring him round in any direction he chooses.

GRIFFON VULTURE.

THE TURKEY VULTURE.

459

Vultures are generally protected by the natives of the countries where they reside on account of their great utility in clearing away the putrid animal matter, which would otherwise be exceedingly injurious as well as disagreeable. The Turkey Buzzard or John Crow (Cathartes Aura), or Jamaican Vulture, is protected by a fine of five pounds, inflicted on any one who destroys the bird within a certain distance of the principal towns. Waterton's account of this bird is very interesting, and well worthy of notice. There are many different species of Vultures inhabiting different countries, but their habits as well as their forms are so similar that a detailed description of each is needless.

THE TURKEY VULTURE.

The Turkey Vulture is about two and a half feet in length, and six in breadth. Eyes

TURKEY VULTURE OR BUZZARD.

breast-bone. The plumage of the neck is large and tumid, and, with

OF THE FALCON OR EAGLE TRIBE.

THE bill is hooked; and is furnished at the base with a naked membranaceous skin, called cere. The head and neck are thickly beset with feathers. The nostrils are small, and placed in the cere; and the tongue is broad, fleshy, and generally cleft at the end. The legs and feet are strong, muscular and scaly; and the large, hooked, and very sharp claws, are well calculated for the predacious habits of the animals. The middle toe is connected to the outermost by a strong membrane, and the claw of the outer toe is smaller than that of any of the others.

This tribe differs from the last principally in the animals having their bill and claws much more hooked and sharp; in having the head and neck in general thickly covered with feathers, instead of being naked, or covered only with down; and also in their usually killing their prey and eating it while fresh. The exuvia and bones of their food they always emit at the mouth, in the form of round pellets.

This, as well as the last, is an excessively rapacious tribe of birds. They prey altogether on animal food; yet they seldom feed on carrion, except when driven to it by necessity. They are able to sustain hunger for a very great length of time; often taking in as much food at once, as will last them for several days without a fresh supply. Many of these species eat fish, and others are content to subsist on snakes and reptiles.

They never associate; and, except during the breeding season, even two of them are seldom seen together. They are extremely quick sighted, and soar to amazing heights in the air. When they discern their prey, they dart upon it with the swiftness of an arrow: and their strength is so great, that some of them have been known to carry to their offspring a load nearly as heavy as themselves, and from a distance of forty miles and upwards. Most of them build their nests in lofty and inaccessible places; but a few of the species form them on the ground. In general the females are much larger than the males; for the purpose, as some persons have conjectured, of more easily providing food for their offspring.

About a hundred and forty different species have been discovered, of which upwards of twenty are natives of Great Britain; but, from the extreme difference in appearance, between many of the males and females of the same species it is sometimes a difficult task to ascertain them.

THE SECRETARY FALCON.

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THE SECRETARY FALCON.

This bird, when standing erect, measures about three feet from the top of the head to the ground. The bill is black, sharp, and crooked, like that of an Eagle. The cere is white; and round the eyes there is a place bare of feathers, and of a deep orange color. The upper eyelids are beset with strong bristles, like eye-lashes. The general color of the plumage is a bluish ash color; and the ends of the wings, the thighs, and vent, are blackish. The tail is somewhat ash-colored, except at the end, which, for above an inch, is black, and then tipped with white: the two middle feathers are twice as long as any of the rest. The legs are long, brown, and stouter than those of a Heron; the claws are shortish, but crooked, and of a black color.

The Secretary Falcon is a native of the interior parts of Africa, Asia, and the Philippine Islands.

In its general form this bird resembles, in some degree, both the Eagle and the Crane; having its head shaped like that of the former, and its body somewhat like that of the latter. From the back of the head spring several long dark-colored feathers, that hang loose behind like a pendant crest, which the bird can erect or depress at pleasure. "The Dutch (says M. Le Vaillant) gave to it the name of Secretary, on account of the bunch of quills behind its head: for in Holland, clerks, when interrupted in their writing, stick their pen in their hair behind their right ear; and to this the tuft of the bird was thought to bear some resemblance."

The Hottentots at the Cape of Good Hope distinguished this bird by a name that signifies the Serpent-eater; and it would almost seem that nature had principally destined it for the purpose of confining within due bounds the race of Serpents, which is very extensive in all the countries that this bird inhabits.

The mode in which it seizes these dangerous creatures is very peculiar. When it approaches them, it is always careful to carry the point of one of its wings forward, in order to parry off their venomous bites; sometimes it finds an opportunity of spurning and treading upon its antagonist, or else of taking him on its pinions and throwing him into the air. When, by this proceeding, it has at length wearied him out, and rendered him almost senseless, it kills and swallows him at leisure without danger.

M. Le Vaillant tells us, that he was witness to an engagement between a Secretary Falcon and a Serpent. The battle was obstinate, and was conducted with equal address on both sides. But the Serpent at length feeling the inferiority of his strength, employed, in his attempt to regain his hole, all that cunning which is attributed to the tribe; while the Bird, apparently guessing his design, stopped him on a sudden and cut off his retreat, by placing herself before him at a