Page:Natural History, Birds.djvu/24

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We have just observed, that the birds of this Family are not strictly rapacious, inasmuch as their organization unfits them for violence; but their food consists of dead flesh, which in hot countries, where the Vultures chiefly occur, so quickly attains putridity as to have induced the notion that they feed exclusively on carrion. We have proved, however, by personal observation, that decomposition is not a necessary condition of the Vultures' food, for they may be frequently seen regaling themselves on the flesh of an animal within half an hour after it has been killed.

"The Vulturidæ," observes Sir William Jardine, "have universally been looked upon with a kind of disgust. Ungraceful in form, of loose and ill-kept plumage, and except when satisfying the cravings of hunger, or during the season of incubation, of sluggish and inactive manners, they present nothing attractive, while carrion being generally mentioned as their common food, associations have been created of the most loathsome character. They are not, however, without utility, for, in the warmer regions of the world, they consume the animal remains, which, without the assistance of these birds, the more ignoble carnivorous quadrupeds, and the myriads of carcase-eating insects, would soon spread pestilence around."

The beak, in the Vulturidæ is somewhat lengthened, and curved downward at the point: