THE VULTURE.

"A rav'nous vulture in his open'd side
Her cruel beak and cruel talons tried."

THIS bird, though not generally the best known, or most fre

Obloquently mentioned, is Bogg considerably the largest of all the birds of prey, the eagle itself not excepted. There are above thirty species of the vulture scattered principally over the warmer parts of the globe. The largest species is found in South America. The name of vulture seems to have been given to

birds of this genus from their peculiarly piercing sight; a faculty, indeed, which distinguishes almost all the birds of prey. The largest of the vulture tribe is the condor of South America; a bird which possesses all the formidable qualities of the eagle, but in a much higher degree.

The habits of the vulture tribe differ from those of the eagle, in that the eagle, unless violently pressed by

hunger, will not stoop to carrion, loving to kill and catch for itself; whilst the vulture is indelicately and indiscriminately voracious, though not so frequently attacking living animals, whilst its wants can be supplied from the putrid bodies of the dead. It delights in the most noxious putridity; and is sometimes found uprooting new graves in order to satisfy its longing appetite with their contents. In these habits, too, the wisdom of God and his goodness are strikingly seen by intelligent observers, that he has raised up a bird with so filthy and disgusting habits in those countries where, from the heat of the sun, dead bodies almost directly putrefy, and, but for these birds, might frequently be the source of the most pestilential diseases. God has made the vultures, therefore, the great scavengers of the countries they inhabit, fitting them, by their far distant sight and more distant scent, to find out every dead carcass; and, by a peculiar appetite for such food, preparing them to devour it. Such are the services of these birds in clearing countries of carrion, that they are often regarded with veneration and love, rather than with fear and dread. Some governments impose a fine upon the person who kills one, as is the case in South America, where their services are much needed. Mr. Waterton, a traveller on the American continent, saw vultures as tame as domestic fowls, so that persons who had never seen vultures might mistake them at first for a species of turkeys. When full of food the vulture appears indolent, standing for hours together on the branch of a tree, or on the top of a house, with his wings drooping;

and, after rain, spreading and elevating them to catch the rays of the sun.

Though common to some parts of Europe, the vulture is a stranger to the English shores. Here, where his services are not required, the vulture would be an injury and annoyance, without any corresponding benefit. In Egypt, where the spotted and black vultures are natives, they are very common, and of incalculable benefit; far more so than the eagle tribes, which feed and prey upon living animals, whereas the birds of which we are now speaking chiefly prey upon the putrid dead. At Grand Cairo, therefore, notwithstanding their rapacious habits, not one of them is suffered to be killed, as they devour all the carrion and filth of this truly filthy city, where everything vile is thrown into the streets, trusting to these good scavengers to clear it away, as it would otherwise corrupt and taint the air.

There is a specimen of the king vulture in the Zoological Gardens, London, sent from Venezuela by Admiral Fleming. Of this remarkable species many interesting particulars are related by Mr. Waterton, the traveller, whom we have before named. While sailing

up the Essequibo he saw a pair of them sitting on the naked branch of a tree, with about a dozen of the common vultures. A tiger had killed a goat the day before; he had been driven away while sucking the blood, and not finding it safe or prudent to return, the goat remained where he had killed it. It had begun to putrefy, and the vultures had arrived that morning to claim the savoury morsel. Mr. Waterton also relates, that the

carcass of a large snake which he had killed in the forest becoming putrid, about twenty of the common vultures came and perched on the neighbouring trees. The king of the vultures came too; and Mr. W. observes that none of the common ones seemed inclined to begin breakfast till his majesty had finished. When he had consumed as much as nature informed him would do him good, he retired to the top of a high tree, and then all the common vultures fell to and made a hearty meal. The same gentleman observed, that the day after the planter had burnt the trash in a cane field, the king vulture might be seen feeding on the snakes, lizards, and frogs which had suffered in the conflagration; so that the same kind of food that satisfies their subjects of the inferior orders will satisfy them also.

It is very bold and voracious; and Bruce relates that a bearded vulture onee, attracted by some goat's flesh that his servants were cooking on the summit of a mountain in Abyssinia, ventured within the circle of the party, and attempted to seize a portion of the goat from the boiling water; but, failing in this, it carried off a large piece in each of its talons from a platter that stood near. The vulture returned again for more of the savoury meat, when it was shot by the traveller.

Mr. Burchell justly observes, that, to those who have had an opportunity of examining these birds, it may be seen how perfectly the formation of a vulture is adapted to clear away putrid or putrefying matter, which might otherwise taint the air, and produce infectious diseases.