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is just barely supported upon two short thick legs, like pillars, while its head and neck rise from it in a manner truly grotesque. The neck is thick and pursy; the head consists of two great chaps that open far behind the eyes (which are large, black, and prominent), so that when the animal gapes it seems to be all mouth. The bill, therefore, is of an extraordinary length, not flat and broad, but thick, and of a bluish white, sharp at the end, and each chap crooked in opposite directions: they resemble two pointed spoons that are laid together by the backs. From all this results a stupid and voracious physiognomy; which is still more increased by a border ing of feathers round the root of the beak, which has the appearance of a hood or cowl, and finishes this picture of stupid deformity. Bulk, which in other animals implies strength, in this only contributes to inactivity. The ostrich or the cassowary are no more able to fly than the animal before us; but then they supply that defect by their speed in running. The dodo seems weighed down by its own heaviness, and has scarce strength to urge itself forward. It seems among birds what the sloth is among quadrupeds-an unresisting thing, equally incapable of flight or defence. It is supplied with wings, covered with soft, ash-coloured feathers, but they are too short to assist it in flying. It is furnished with a tail, with a few small curled feathers; but this tail is disproportioned and displaced. Its legs are too short for running, and its body too fat to be strong. One would take it for a tortoise that had supplied itself with the feathers of a bird, and that, thus dressed out with the instruments of flight, it was only still the more unwieldy.

This bird is a native of the Isle of France; and the Dutch, who first discovered it there, called it in their language the nauseous bird, as well from its disgusting figure as from the bad taste of its flesh. However, succeeding observers contradict this first report, and assert that its flesh is good and wholesome eating. It is a silly, simple bird, as may very well be supposed from its figure, and is very easily taken. Three or four dodoes are enough to dine a hundred men.

Whether the dodo be the same bird with that which some travellers have described under the "bird of Nazareth" yet remains uncertain. The country from whence they both come is the same-their incapacity of flying is the same the form of the wings and body in both are similar; but the chief difference given is in the colour of the feathers, which in the female of the bird of Nazareth are said to be extremely beautiful; and in the height of their legs, which in the dodo are short; in the other they are described as being long. Time and future observation must clear up these doubts; and the testimony of a single witness who has seen both will throw more light on the subject than the reasoning of a hundred philosophers.

BOOK II.-CHAP. I.

OF RAPACIOUS BIRDS IN GENERAL.

There seems to obtain a general resemblance in all the classes of Nature. As among quadrupeds a part were seen to live upon the vegetable productions of the earth, and another part upon the flesh of each other; so among birds, some live upon vegetable food and others by rapine, destroying all such as want force or swiftness to procure their safety. By thus peopling the woods with animals of different dispositions Nature has wisely provided for the multiplications of life; since, could we suppose that there were as many animals produced as there were vegetables supplied to sustain them, yet there might still be another class of animals formed which could find a sufficient sustenance by feeding upon

such vegetable feeders as happened to fall by the course of Nature. By this contrivance a greater number will be sustained upon the whole; for the numbers would be but very thin were every creature a candidate for the same food. Thus, by supplying a variety of appetites, Nature has also multiplied life in her productions. In thus varying their appetites, Nature has also varied the form of the animal; and while she has given some an instinctive passion for animal food, she has also furnished them with powers to obtain it. All landbirds of the rapacious kinds are furnished with a large head, and a strong, crooked beak, notched at the end, for the purpose of tearing their prey. They have strong, short legs, and sharp, crooked talons for the purpose of seizing it. Their bodies are formed for war, being fibrous and muscular; and their wings for swiftness of flight, being well-feathered and expansive. The sight of such as prey by day is astonishingly quick; and such as ravage by night have their sight so fitted as to see objects in darkness with great precision.

Their internal parts are equally formed for the food they seek for. Their stomach is simple and membraneous, and wrapt in fat to increase the powers of digestion; and their intestines are short and glandular. As their food is succulent and juicy, they want no length of intestinal tube to form it into proper nourishment. Their food is flesh, which does not require a slow digestion to be converted into a similitude of substance to their own.

Thus formed for war, they lead a life of solitude and rapacity. They inhabit by choice the most lonely places and the most desert mountains. They make their nests in the clefts of rocks, and on the highest and most inaccessible trees of the forest. Whenever they appear in the cultivated plain or the warbling grove, it is only for the purposes of depredation, and are gloomy intruders on the general joy of the landscape. They spread terror wherever they approach; all that variety of music which but a moment before enlivened the grove, at their appearing is instantly at an end-every order of lesser birds seek for safety, either by concealment or flight; and some are even driven to take protection with man to avoid their less merciful pursuers.

It would indeed be fatal to all the smaller race of birds if, as they are weaker than all, they were also pursued by all; but it is contrived wisely for their safety that every order of carnivorous birds seek only for such as are of the size most approaching their own. The eagle flies at the bustard or the pheasant-the sparrowhawk pursues the thrush and the linnet. Nature has provided that each species should make war only on such as are furnished with adequate means of escape. The smallest birds avoid their pursuers by their extreme agility rather than the swiftness of their flight; for every order would soon be at an end if the eagle, to its own swiftness of wing, added the versality of the sparrow.

Another circumstance which tends to render the tyranny of these animals more supportable is, that they are less fruitful than other birds, breeding but few at a time. Those of the larger kind seldom produce above four eggs, often but two-those of the smaller kind never above six or seven. The pigeon, it is true, which is their prey, never breeds above two at a time; but then she breeds every month in the year. The carnivorous kinds only breed annually, and, of consequence, their fecundity is small in comparison.

As they are fierce by nature, and are difficult to be tamed, so this fierceness extends even to their young, which they force from the nest sooner than birds of the gentler kind. Other birds seldom forsake their young till completely able to provide themselves; the rapacious kinds expel them from the nest at a time when they should still protect and support them. This severity to their young proceeds from the necessity of providing for

themselves. All animals that, by the conformation of their stomach and intestines, are obliged to live upon flesh and support themselves by prey, though they may be mild when young, soon become fierce and mischievous by the very habit of using those arms with which they are supplied by Nature. As it is only by the destruction of other animals that they can subsist, they become more furious every day; and even the parental feelings are overpowered in their general habits of cruelty. If the power of obtaining a supply be difficult, the old ones soon drive their brood from their nest to shift for themselves, and often destroy them in a fit of fury instigated by hunger.

Another effect of this natural and acquired severity is, that almost all birds of prey are unsociable. It has long been observed by Aristotle, that all birds with crooked beaks and talons are solitary; like quadrupeds of the cat kind, they lead a lonely, wandering life, and are only united in pairs by that instinct which overpowers their rapacious habits of enmity with all other animals. As the male and female are often necessary to each other in their pursuits, so they sometimes live together; but except at certain seasons they most usually prowl alone, and, like robbers, enjoy in solitude the fruits of their plunder.

All birds of prey are remarkable for one singularity, for which it is not easy to account. All the male-birds are about a third less and weaker than the females, contrary to what obtains among quadrupeds, among which the males are always the largest and the boldest; from thence the male is called by falconers a "tercel"-that is, a tierce or third less than the other. The reason of this difference cannot proceed from the necessity of a larger body in the female for the purposes of breeding, and that her volume is thus increased by the quantity of her eggs; for in other birds that breed much faster, and that lay in much greater proportion-such as the hen, the duck, or the pheasant-the male is by far the largest of the two. Whatever be the cause, certain it is that the females, as Willoughby expresses it, are greater in size, more beautiful and lovely for shape and colours, stronger, more fierce and generous, than the males. It may be that it is necessary for the female to be thus superior, as it is incumbent upon her to provide not only for herself but her young ones also.

These birds, like quadrupeds of the carnivorous kind, are all lean and meagre. Their flesh is stringy and illtasted, soon corrupting, and tinctured with the flavour of the animal food upon which they subsist. Nevertheless, Belonius asserts that many people admire the flesh of the vulture and the falcon, and dress them for eating when they meet with any accident that unfits them for the chase. He asserts that the osprey, a species of the eagle, when yonng is excellent food; but he contents himself with advising us to breed these birds up for our pleasure in the field rather than for the table.

Of land-birds of a rapacious nature there are five kinds the eagle kind, the hawk kind, the vulture kind, and the horned and the screech-owl kind. The distinetive marks of this class are taken from their claws and beak; their toes are separated-their legs are feathered to the heel-their toes are four in number, three before and one behind-their beak is short, thick, and crooked.

The eagle kind are distinguished from the rest by their beak, which is straight till towards the end, when it begins to hook downwards.

The vulture kind are distinguished by the head, and also being without feathers.

The hawk kind are distinguished by the beak, being hooked from the very root.

The horned owl is distinguished by the feathers at the base of the bill standing forwards, and by some feathers on the head that stand out, very much resembling

horns.

The screech-owl is distinguished by the feathers at the base of the bill standing forwards, and having no horns.-A description of one in each kind will serve for all the rest.

CHAP. II.

THE EAGLE AND ITS AFFINITIES.

The golden eagle is the largest and noblest of all those birds that have received the name of eagle. It weighs above twelve pounds. Its length is three feet; the extent of its wings, seven feet four inches; the bill is three inches long, and of a deep blue colour; and the eye of a hazel colour. The sight and sense of smelling are very acute. The head and neck are clothed with narrow, sharp-pointed feathers, and of a deep brown colour bordered with tawny; but those on the crown of the head in very old birds turn grey. The whole body, above as well as beneath, is of a dark brown; and the feathers of the back are finely clouded with a deeper shade of the same. The wings, when clothed, reach to the end of the tail. The quill-feathers are of a chocolate colour, the shafts white. The tail is of a deep brown, irregularly barred and blotched with an obscure ash-colour, and usually white at the roots of the feathers. The legs are yellow, short, and very strong, being three inches in circumference, and feathered to the very feet. The toes are covered with large scales and armed with the most formidable claws, the middle of which are two inches long.

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In the rear of this terrible bird follow the "ring-tailed eagle," the "common eagle," the "bald eagle," the "white eagle," the "kough-footed eagle," the "erne," the black eagle," the "osprey," the "sea-eagle," and the "crowned eagle." These, and others that might be added, form different shades in this fierce family, but have all the same rapacity, the same general form, the same habits, and the same manner of bringing up their young.

In general these birds are found in mountainous and ill-peopled countries, and breed among the loftiest cliffs. They choose those places which are remotest from man, upon whose possessions they but seldom make their depredations, being contented rather to follow the wild game in the forest than to risk their safety to satisfy their hunger.

This fierce animal may be considered among birds as the lion among quadrupeds; and in many respects they have a strong similitude to each other. They are both possessed of force, and an empire over their fellows of the forest. Equally magnanimous, they disdain smaller plunder; and only pursue animals worthy the conquest. It is not till after having been long provoked by the cries of the rook or the magpie that this generous bird thinks fit to punish them with death: the eagle also disdains to share the plunder of another bird, and will take up with no other prey but that which he has acquired by his own pursuits. How hungry soever he may be he never stoops to carrion; and when satiated he never returns to the same carcase, but leaves it for other animals more rapacious and less delicate than himself. Solitary, like the lion, he keeps the desert to himself alone; it is as extraordinary to see two pair of eagles in the same mountain as two lions in the same forest. They keep separate to find a more ample supply, and consider the quantity of their game as the best proof of their dominion Nor does the similitude of these animals stop here: they have both sparkling eyes, and nearly of the same colour; their claws are of the same form, their breath equally strong, and their cry equally loud and terrifying. Bred for war, they are enemies of all society-alike fierce, proud, and incapable of being

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easily tamed. It requires great patience and much art to tame an eagle; and even though taken young and brought under by long assiduity, yet still it is a dangerous domestic, and often turns its force against its master. When brought into the field for the purposes of fowling, the falconer is never sure of its attachment: that innate pride and love of liberty still prompt it to regain its native solitudes; and the moment the falconer sees it when let loose first stoop towards the ground and then rise perpendicularly into the clouds, he gives up all his former labour for lost, quite sure of never beholding his late prisoner more. Sometimes, however, they are brought to have an attachment for their feeder; they are then highly serviceable, and liberally provide for his pleasures and support. When the falconer lets them go from his hand they play about and hover round him till their game presents, which they see at an immense distance, and pursue with certain destruction.

Of all animals the eagle flies highest; and from thence the ancients have given him the epithet of "the bird of heaven." Of all others, also, he has the quickest eye; but his sense of smelling is far inferior to that of the vulture. He never pursues, therefore, but in sight; and when he has seized his prey he stoops from his height, as if to examine its weight, always laying it on the ground before he carries it off. As his wing is very powerful, yet, as he has but little suppleness in the joints of the leg, he finds it difficult to rise when down; however, if not instantly pursued, he finds no difficulty in carrying off geese and cranes. He also carries away hares, lambs, and kids; and often destroys fawns and calves, to drink their blood, and carries a part of their flesh to his retreat. Infants themselves, when left unattended, have been destroyed by these rapacious creatures; which probably gave rise to the fable of Ganymede's being snatched up by an eagle to heaven. The eagle is thus at all times a formidable neighbour; but peculiarly when bringing up its young. It is then that the female as well as the male exert all their force and industry to supply their young. Smith, in his His tory of Kerry, relates that a poor man in that country got a comfortable subsistence for his family during a summer of famine out of an eagle's nest by robbing the eaglets of food, which was plentifully supplied by the old ones. He protracted their assiduity beyond the usual time by clipping the wings, and retarding the flight of the young; and very probably, also, as I have known myself, by so trying as to increase their cries, which is always found to increase the parents' despatch to procure them provision. It was lucky, however, that the old eagles did not surprise the countryman as he was thus employed, as their resentment might have been dangerous.

It happened some time ago, in the same country, that a peasant resolved to rob the nest of an eagle that had built in a small island in the beautiful lake of Killar ney. He accordingly stripped, and swam in upon the island while the old ones were away; and, robbing the nest of its young, he was preparing to swim back with the eaglets tied in a string; but while he was yet up to his chin in the water the old eagles returned, and, missing their young, quickly fell upon the plunderer, and in spite of all his resistance despatched him with their beaks and talons.

In order to extirpate these pernicious birds, there is a law in the Orkney Islands which entitles any person that kills an eagle to a hen out of every house in the parish in which the plunderer is killed.

The nest of the eagle is usually built in the most inaccessible cliff of the rock, and often shielded from the weather by some jutting crag that hangs over it. Sometimes, however, it is wholly exposed to the winds, as well sideways as above; for the nest is flat, though built with great labour. It is said that the same nest serves the eagle during life; and indeed the pains bestowed in

forming it seems to argue as much. One of these was found in the Peak of Derbyshire, which Willoughby thus describes :-" It was made of great sticks, resting one end on the edge of a rock, the other on two birchtrees. Upon these was a layer of rushes, and over them a layer of heath, and upon the heath rushes again; upon which lay one young one and an addle egg; and by them a lamb, a hare, and three heath-poults. The nest was about two yards square, and had no hollow in it. The young eagle was of the shape of a goshawk, of almost the weight of a goose, rough footed, or feathered down to the foot, having a white ring about the tail." Such is the place where the female eagle de posits her eggs, which seldom exceed two at a time in the larger species, and not above three in the smallest. It is said that she hatches them for thirty days; but frequently, of even this small number of eggs a part is addled; and it is extremely rare to find three eaglets in the same nest. It is asserted that as soon as the young ones are somewhat grown the mother kills the most feeble or the most voracious. If this happens it must proceed only from the necessities of the parent, who is incapable of providing for their support; aud is content to sacrifice a part to the welfare of all.

The plumage of the eaglets is not so strongly marked as when they come to be adult. They are at first white, then inclining to yellow, and at last of a light brown. Age, hunger, long captivity, and diseases make them whiter. It is said they live above a hundred years; and that they at last die, not of old age, but from the beaks turning inward upon the under mandible, and thus preventing their taking any food. They are equally remarkable, says Mr. Pennant, for their longevity, and for their power of sustaining a long absence from food. One of this species, which has now been nine years in the possession of Mr. Owen Holland, of Conway, lived thirtytwo years with the gentleman who made him a present of it; but what its age was when the latter received it from Ireland is unknown. The same bird also furnishes a proof of the truth of the other remark; having once, through the neglect of servants, endured hunger for twenty-one days without any sustenance whatever.

Those eagles which are kept tame are fed with every kind of flesh, whether fresh or corrupting; and when there is a deficiency of that, bread, or any other provi sion, will suffice. It is very dangerous approaching them if not quite tame; and they sometimes send forth a loud, piercing, lamentable cry, which renders them still more formidable. The eagle drinks but seldom; and perhaps when at liberty not at all, as the blood of its prey serves to quench its thirst. The eagle's excrements are always soft and moist, and tinged with that whitish substance which, as was said before, mixes in birds with the urine.

Such are the general characteristics and habitudes of the eagle; however, in some these habitudes differ, as the sea-eagle and the osprey live chiefly upon fish, and consequently build their nests on the sea-shore and by the sides of rivers, on the ground among reeds, and often lay three or four eggs, rather less than those of a hen, of a white elliptical form. They catch their prey, which is chiefly fish, by darting down upon them from above. The Italians compare the violent descent of these birds on their prey to the fall of lead into water; and call them "aquila piombina," or the leaden eagle.

Nor is the bald eagle, which is an inhabitant of North Carolina, less remarkable for habits peculiar to itself. These birds breed in that country all the year round. When the eaglets are just covered with down and a sort of white woolly feathers, the female eagle lays again. These eggs are left to be hatched by the warmth of the young ones that continue in the nest; so that the flight of one brood makes room for the next that are but just hatched. These birds fly very heavily; so that they cannot overtake their prey like others of the same

denomination. To remedy this, they often attend a sort of fishing-hawk, which they pursue, and strip the plunderer of its prey. This is the more remarkable, as this hawk flies swifter than they. These eagles also generally attend upon fowlers in the winter; and when any birds are wounded they are sure to be seized by the eagle, though they may fly from the fowler. This bird will often also steal young pigs, and carry them alive to the nest, which is composed of twigs, sticks, and rubbish; it is large enough to fill the body of a cart, and is commonly full of bones half eaten and putrid flesh, the stench of which is intolerable.

The distinctive marks of each species are as follow:The "golden eagle"—of a tawny, iron colour; the head and neck of a redish iron; the tail feathers of a dirty white, marked with cross-bands of tawny iron; the legs covered with tawny iron feathers.

The "common eagle"-of a brown colour; the head and upper part of the neck inclining to red; the tail feathers white, blackening at the ends; the outer ones on each side of an ash-colour; the legs covered with feathers of a redish brown.

The "bald eagle"-brown; the head, neck, and tail feathers white; the feathers of the upper part of the leg brown.

The "white eagle"-the whole white.

The "kough-footed eagle"-of a dirty brown; spotted under the wings and on the legs with white; the feathers of the tail white at the beginning and the point; the leg feathers dirty brown spotted with white.

The "white-tailed eagle"-dirty brown; head white; the stems of the feathers black; the rump inclining to black; the tail feathers, the first half black, the end half white; the legs naked.

The "erne"-a dirty iron colour above, an iron mixed with black below; the head and neck ash mixed with chesnut; the points of the wings blackish; the tail feathers white; the legs naked.

The "black eagle"-blackish; the head and upper neck mixed with red; the tail feathers, the first half white, spreckled with black; the other half blackish; the feathers dirty white.

The "sea eagle"-inclining to white, mixed with iron brown; belly white, with iron-coloured spots; the covert feathers of the tail whitish; the tail feathers black at the extremity; the upper part of the leg feathers of an iron brown.

The "osprey"-brown above; white below; the back of the head white; the outward tail feathers on the inner side streaked with white; legs naked.

The "jean le blane"-above, brownish grey; below, white, spotted with tawny brown; the tail feathers on the outside and at the extremity brown; on the inside, white streaked with brown; legs naked.

The "eagle of Brazil"-blackish brown; ash colour, mixed in the wings; tail feathers white; legs naked.

The "Oroonoko eagle"-with a topping above, blackish brown; below, white spotted with black; upper neck yellow; tail feathers brown, with white circles; leg feathers white spotted with black.

The "crowned African eagle"-with a topping; the tail of an ash colour, streaked on the upper side with black.

The "eagle of Pondicherry"-chesnut colour; the six outward tail feathers black one half.

CHAP. III.

THE CONDOR OF AMERICA.

We might now come to speak of the vulture kind, as they hold the next rank to the eagle; but we are interrupted in our method by the consideration of an enor

mous bird, whose place is not yet ascertained; as na turalists are in doubt whether to refer it to the eagle tribe or to that of the vulture. Its great strength, force, and vivacity might plead for its place among the former the baldness of his head and neck might be thought to degrade it among the latter. In this uncertainty, it will be enough to describe the bird by the light we have, and leave future historians to settle its rank in the feathered creation. Indeed, if size and strength, combined with rapidity of flight and rapacity, deserve preeminence, no bird can be put in competition with it.

The condor possesses in a higher degree than the eagle all the qualities that render it formidable, not only to the feathered kind but to beasts, and even to man himself. Acosta, Garcilasso, and Desmarchais assert that it is eighteen feet across, the wings extended. The beak is so strong as to pierce the cow-two of thern are able to devour it. They do not abstain from even man himself. But fortunately there are but few of the species; for if there had been plenty, every order of animals must have carried on an unsuccessful war against them. The Indians assert that they will carry off a deer or a young calf in their talons, as eagles would a hare or a rabbit; that their sight is piercing and their air terrible; that they seldom frequent the forests, as they require a large space for the display of their wings; but that they are found on the sea-shore and the banks of rivers, whither they descend from the heights of the mountains. By later accounts we learn that they come down to the seashore only at certain seasons, when their prey happens to fail them upon land; that they then feed upon dead fish, and such other nutritious substances as the sea throws upon the shore. We are assured, however, that their countenance is not so terrible as the old writers have represented it; but that they appear of a milder nature than either the eagle or the vulture.

Condamine has frequently seen them in several parts of the mountains of Quito, and observed them hovering over a flock of sheep; and he thinks they would at a certain time have attempted to carry one off had they not been scared away by the shepherds. Labat acquaints us that those who have seen this animal declare that the body is as large as that of a sheep-that the flesh is tough, and as disagreeable as carrion. The Spaniards themselves seem to dread its depredations; and there have been many instances of its carrying off their children.

Mr. Strong, the master of a ship, as he was sailing along the coasts of Chili, in the thirty-third degree of south latitude, observed a bird sitting upon a high cliff near the shore, which some of the ship's company shot with a leaden bullet and killed. They were greatly surprised when they saw its magnitude; for, when the wings were extended they measured thirteen feet from one tip to the other. One of the quills was two feet four inches long; and the barrel or hollow part was six inches and three quarters, and an inch and a half in circumference.

We have a still more circumstantial account of this amazing bird by P. Feuillee, the only traveller who has accurately described it: In the valley of Illo, in Peru, I discovered a condor perched on a high rock before me: I approached within gun-shot and fired; but as my piece was only charged with swan-shot, the lead was not able sufficiently to pierce the bird's feathers. I perceived, however, by its manner of flying that it was wounded; and it was with a good deal of difficulty that it flew to another rock, about five hundred yards distant on the sea-shore. I therefore charged again with ball, and hit the bird under the throat, which made it mine. I accordingly ran up to seize it; but even in death it was terrible, and defended itself upon its back with its claws extended against me, so that I scarce knew how to lay hold of it. Had it not been mortally wounded I should have found it no easy matter to take it; but I at last

dragged it down from the rock, and with the assistance of one of the seamen I carried it to my tent to make a coloured drawing.

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The wings of this bird, which I measured very exactly, were twelve feet three inches (English) from tip to tip. The great feathers, which were of a beautiful shining black, were two feet four inches long. The thickness of the beak was proportionable to the rest of the body, the length about four inches, the point hooked downwards and white at its extremity, and the other part was of a jet black. A short down of a brown colour covered the head; the eyes were black, and surrounded with a circle of redish brown. The feathers on the breast, neck, and wings were of a light brown; those on the back were rather darker. Its thighs were covered with brown feathers to the knees. The thigh bone was ten inches long; the leg five inches; the toes were three before and one behind-that behind was an inch and a half; and the claw with which it was armed was black, and three quarters of an inch long. The other claws were in the same proportion; and the leg was covered with black scales, as also the toes; but in these the scales were larger.

These birds usually keep in the mountains, where they find their prey; they never descend to the seashore but in the rainy season; for as they are very sensible of cold they go there for greater warmth. Though these mountains are situated in the torrid zone the cold is often very severe; for a great part of the year they are covered with snow, but particularly in winter.

"The little nourishment which these birds find on the sea-coast, except when the tempest drives in some great fish, obliges the condor to continue there but a short time. They usually come to the coast at the approach of evening, stay there all night, and fly back in the morning."

It is doubted whether this animal be proper to America only, or whether it may not have been described by the naturalists of other countries. It is supposed that the great bird called the "rock," described by Arabian writers and so much exaggerated by fable, is but the species of the condor. The great bird of Tarnassar, in the East Indies, which is larger than the eagle, as well as the vulture of Senegal, that carries off children, are probably no other than the bird we have been describing. Russia, Lapland, and even Switzerland and Germany, are said to have known this animal. A bird of this kind was shot in France that weighed eighteen pounds, and was said to be eighteen feet across the wings; how ever, one of the quills was described as only being larger than that of a swan; so that probably the breadth of the wings may have been exaggerated, since a bird so large would have quills more than twice as big as those of a swan. However this be, we are not to regret that it is scarcely ever seen in Europe, as it appears to be one of the most formidable enemies of mankind. In the deserts of Pachomac, where it is chiefly seen, men seldom venture to travel. Those wild regions are quite sufficient of themselves to inspire a secret horror: broken precipices-prowling panthers-forests only vocal with the hissing of serpents-and mountains still more terrible by the condor, the only bird that ventures to makes its residence in those deserted situations.

CHAP. IV.

OF THE VULTURE AND ITS AFFINITIES.

The first rank in the description of birds has been given to the eagle-not because it is stronger or larger than the vulture, but because it is more generous and bold The eagle, unless pressed by famine, will not stoop to carrion, and never devours but what he has

earned by his own pursuit. The vulture, on the contrary, is indelicately voracious, and seldom attacks living animals when it can be supplied with the dead. The eagle meets and singly opposes his enemy; the vulture, if it expects resistance, calls in the aid of its kind, and basely overpowers its prey by a cowardly combination. Putrefaction and stench, instead of deterring, only serve to allure them. The vulture seems among birds what the jackal and the hyæna are among quadrupeds, who prey upon carcases and root up the dead.

Vultures may be easily distinguished from the eagle kind 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 prominent; those of the eagle being buried more in the socket. Their claws are shorter and less hooked. The inside of the wing is covered with a thick down, which is different in them than from all other birds of prey. Their attitude is not so upright as that of the eagle; and their fight more difficult and heavy.

In this tribe we may range the golden, the ashcoloured, and the brown vulture, which are inhabitants of Europe; the spotted and black vulture of Egypt; the bearded vulture, and the king of the vultures of South America. They all agree in their nature, being equally indolent, yet rapacious and unclean.

The "golden vulture" seems to be the foremost of the kind, and is in many things like the golden eagle, but larger in every proportion. From the end of the beak to that of the tail it is four feet and a half; and to the claws' end forty-five inches. The length of the upper mandible is almost seven inches, and the tail twentyseven in length. The lower part of the neck, breast, and belly are of a red colour; but on the tail it is more faint, and deeper near the head. The feathers are black on the back, and on the wings and tail of a yellowish brown. Others of the kind differ from this in colour and dimensions; but they are all strongly marked by their naked heads, and beak straight in the beginning but hooking at the point.

They are still more strongly marked by their nature, which, as has been observed, is cruel, unclean, and indolent. There sense of smelling, however, is amazingly great; and Nature for this purpose has given them two large apertures or nostrils without, and an extensive olfactory membrane within. Their intestines are formed directly from those of the eagle kind; for they partake more of the formation of such birds as live upon grain. They have both a crop and a stomach, which may be regarded as a kind of gizzard, from the extreme thickness of the muscles of which it is composed. In fact, they seem adapted inwardly not only for being carnivorous, but to eat corn, or whatsoever of that kind comes in their way.

This bird, which is common in many parts of Europe, and but too well known on the western continent, is totally unknown in England. In Egypt, Arabia, and many other kingdoms of Africa and Asia, vultures are found in great abundance. The inside down of their wing is converted into a very warm and comfortable kind of fur, and is commonly sold in the Asiatic markets.

Indeed, in Egypt this bird seems to be of singular service. There are great flocks of them in the neighbourhood of Grand Cairo, which no person is permitted to destroy. The service they render the inhabitants is the devouring all the carrion and filth of that great city; which might otherwise tend to corrupt and putrefy the air. They are commonly seen in company with the wild dogs of the country, tearing a carcase very deliberately together. This odd association produces no quarrels ; the birds and quadrupeds seem to live amicably, and nothing but harmony subsists between them. The wonder is still the greater, as both are extremely rapacious, and both lean and bony to a very great degree—

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