Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/432

 412 VULGATE VULTURE Afterward he returned to Olympus and acted as mediator between Jupiter and Juno. Aa god of art and industry he worked in a shining pal- ace in Olympus, or, according to later accounts, in the heart of a volcanic island, aided by the Cyclops, and forged the aegis and a sceptre for Jupiter, the armor of Achilles, the weapons of Hercules, and for himself two handmaidens of gold who supported him like living beings as he walked. Charis, Aglaia, and Venus are variously named as his wife. Besides Lemnos, the islands of Sicily, Lipara, Hiera, Imbros, and others are mentioned as the terrestrial seats of his workshop. VULGATE. See BIBLE, vol. ii., p. 618. VI Ll'HS, Christian August, a German author, born in Weimar, Jan. 23, 1762, died there, June 26, 1827. He was educated at Jena and Erlangen, studied German romance, and pub- lished Jtomantitche Oeschichten der Vorzeit (1% vols., Leipsic, 1791-'8), and Anekdoten aus der Vorzeit (2 vols., Leipsic, 1797). From 1788 to 1797 he lived in Franconia, and subsequent- ly, after residing in various cities, returned to Weimar, where ho was made secretary of the court theatre, then under the direction of Goethe. He wrote the famous robber ro- mance Rinaldo Rinaldini (3 vols., Leipsic, 1797), and numerous comic stories and stories of the middle ages, dramas, and operas. Be- coming secretary of the library, and afterward first librarian, he published Curiositaten der physisch-literarisch-artisti^ch-hi^torisch^n Vor- und Mitwelt (10 vols., Weimar, 1810-'23), and Die Vorzeit (4 vols., Erfurt, 1817-'21). His sister, JOHANNA CHRISTIANS SOPHIA (born in Weimar, June 1, 1765), became acquainted with Goethe in 1788, was employed for a time in a domestic capacity under his roof, and bore him a son ; he afterward married her. She died June 6, 1816. VULTURE, the common name of the carrion- eating, diurnal birds of prey, of the family vulturidce (Vigors). This family included all the nakedrheaded, carrion-eating raptoret of both hemispheres ; the vultures of the new world are now placed in the family cathartidte, and those of the old world, coming nearer the falconida, in the family vulturina, excluding the laininergeyer and the Egyptian vulture; the two families, though similar in habits, are very different in anatomical structure, espe- cially in the conformation of the feet. The characters of the families are thus given by Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway : caihartidot nostrils horizontal, perforate ; a well developed web between the inner and middle toes, at the base ; vulturince nostrils vertical, not perfo- rate ; no trace of web between inner and mid- dle toes. The bill is elongated, sometimes slender, never so strong as in the falconidce, straight in the basal portion, and suddenly hooked but not toothed at the tip ; eyes on the level of the head, or without prominent superior bony ridge ; wings long and pointed ; tarsi short, stout, bare of feathers, and covered with scales ; toes moderate, the hind one short and rather elevated, and all with strong, blunt claws ; in the typical forms the head and neck are bare, or clothed only with a woolly down. They are cowardly and filthy, feeding on carrion, gorging themselves to inactivity, and emitting a disgusting odor and a fetid secretion from the nostrils. As soon as an animal is dead, and sometimes before death, the body, in warm climates, is surrounded by these birds, which suddenly appear, coming from all quarters, where one was not visible before. They are invaluable in tropical re- gions for devpuring animal substances, whose speedy decomposition would otherwise engen- der pestilential diseases. They use the beak rather (ban the claws in tearing and seizing their food ; their gait is awkward, and the wings are so long that they hold them half extended when walking ; their voracity is ex- treme; they are the only gregarious birds of prey. The group of bearded vultures (gypae- (iini, coming nearest the eagles in appearance and habits, has been sufficiently noticed under LAMMERGEYER, the largest of European birds. The vulturinae are principally confined to the warm regions of the old world ; a few prey upon small living animals, but most feed upon carrion, which they detect by the sense of sight at great distances ; they are good fliers, soaring to a great elevation and sailing in large circles ; the nest is on the ground, amid inaccessible rocks, and sometimes in trees ; the eggs are two to four. In the genus tultur (Linn.) the bill is largo, elevated, and arched ; third and fourth quills longest ; shafts of tail feathers strong and projecting beyond webs; claws slightly curved and sharp, and with the bill more like those of the ordinary birds of prey ; head with scattered down, and Griffon (Gyps ftilvus). hind head generally with a transverse crest of thicker down, and ruff of neck advancing to- ward it. The flight is slow but elevated ; the nest is very slightly made, and the young are