. The British bird book . me errand miles away. Should hesee one swooping earthwards he instantly tracks him down,and is soon at the feast. This accounts for the mysteriousway in which vultures wiU gather together to the feast, in aplace where an hour ago not one was to be seen. A caravanof camels, perchance, is making its toilsome way across aburning desert. One falls by the way. In a few hours itsbones will be picked clean by a horde of these ravenousbirds. Longfellow sang the song of the vultures hunting instately verse : Never stoops the soaring vultureOn his quarry in the the si
. The British bird book . me errand miles away. Should hesee one swooping earthwards he instantly tracks him down,and is soon at the feast. This accounts for the mysteriousway in which vultures wiU gather together to the feast, in aplace where an hour ago not one was to be seen. A caravanof camels, perchance, is making its toilsome way across aburning desert. One falls by the way. In a few hours itsbones will be picked clean by a horde of these ravenousbirds. Longfellow sang the song of the vultures hunting instately verse : Never stoops the soaring vultureOn his quarry in the the sick or wounded bison,But another vulture, watchingFrom his high aerial lookout,Sees the downward plunge and foUows,And a third pursues the second,Coming from the invisible ether,First a speck, and then a vulture,Till the air is thick with pinions. Darwin, in his wonderful Journal of a Voyage Round theWorld, gives a marvellously vivid word-picture of the largestand most interesting of all the vultures, the Condor of the 162. Blackgame Andes—one of the largest of flying birds, having a wing-span of something over nine feet: When the condors are wheeling in a flock round and round any spot, their flight is beautiful. Except when rising from the ground, I do not recollect ever having seen one of these birds flap its wings. Near Lima, I watched several for nearly half an hour, without once taking off my eyes ; they moved in large curves, sweeping in circles, descending and ascending without giving a single flap. As they glided close over my head, I intently watched, from an oblique position, the outlines of the separate and great terminal feathers of each wing; and these separate feathers, if there had been the least vibratory movement, would have appeared as if blended together; but they were seen distinctly against the blue sky. The head and neck were moved frequently, and, apparently, with force, and the extended wings seemed to form the fulcrum on which the movements of the nec
Size: 1427px × 1750px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1921
