. The naturalist's library : containing scientific and popular descriptions of man, quadrupeds, birds, fishes, reptiles and insects . dians of Quito, moreover,unanimously assured him that men have notliing to apprehend from thecondors. THE SOCIABLE VULTLRE^ Is a bird of extreme rarity. It was first described by Le Vaillant, in nisTravels in the Interior of Africa, under the name of oricou; fancifullyderived from the folding of the skin around its ears, and along its neck. Amore del ailed account of it was afterwards furnished by the same distin-guished ornithologist, in his Oiseaux dAfrique, w
. The naturalist's library : containing scientific and popular descriptions of man, quadrupeds, birds, fishes, reptiles and insects . dians of Quito, moreover,unanimously assured him that men have notliing to apprehend from thecondors. THE SOCIABLE VULTLRE^ Is a bird of extreme rarity. It was first described by Le Vaillant, in nisTravels in the Interior of Africa, under the name of oricou; fancifullyderived from the folding of the skin around its ears, and along its neck. Amore del ailed account of it was afterwards furnished by the same distin-guished ornithologist, in his Oiseaux dAfrique, where a full grown male isvery figured. We do not find that it has since been observed by • Vultur auricularis, Daup. AVES-VULTURE. 419 any zoologist; for all the accounts of it with which we have met, are copiedfrom Le Vaillant. In size, this gigantic bird is fully equal to the condor; the larger specimenmeasuring, according to Le Vaillant, upwards of ten feet in the expanseof their wings. The head, and greater part of the neck are of the colorof raw flesh, and exhibit in their adult state no appearance of down or. leathers, but only a few scarcely perceptible, scattered hairs. The throat iscovered with blackish hairs, and the lower part of the neck behind, with akind of ruff of crisped and curled feathers of the same color; within which,the bird withdraws its head while in a state of repose, especially after feed-ing ; an attitude which is common to most of the vultures. As Le Vaillant is the only writer who has observed these birds in theirnative state, our account of their manners must necessarily be derived fromhis work, Avhich contains more detailed and authentic information relativeto the habits of birds, than any other publication with which we areacquainted, excepting only Wilsons admirable Ornithology. We shall,therefore, make no apology for abstracting his history of the present species,with which he has combined many particulars equally applicable to th
Size: 1490px × 1677px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthordwightjonathan185, bookcentury1800, booksubjectzoology
