ANATOMY OF BIRDS
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS
CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS
LIZARD-TAILED BIRD
AMERICAN TOOTHED-BIRDS
THE OSTRICHES
THE RHEAS
EMEUS AND CASSOWARIES
THE TINAMOUS
THE KIWIS
THE PENGUINS
LOONS AND GREBES
ALBATROSSES & PETRELS
STORK-LIKE BIRDS
GOOSE-LIKE BIRDS
FALCON-LIKE BIRDS
FOWL-LIKE BIRDS
CRANE-LIKE BIRDS
PLOVER-LIKE BIRDS
CUCKOO-LIKE BIRDS
THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS
SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS
Birds and Birding's Guide to:
Watching THE FALCON-LIKE BIRDS
THE KITES, BUZZARDS, EAGLES, HAWKS, AND ALLIES
Black Vulture
One of the most typical members of the group is the Common Cinereous, or Black Vulture (Vultur monachus), a bird distributed from southern Europe and northwestern Africa through central Asia to India and China. It is about forty-two inches in length and is dull sooty black in color, with brownish or chocolate reflections. The”ruff”at the base of the neck is composed of pointed, downy feathers, while the head and throat are covered with a short, velvety, black down.
The bare skin above the neck is of a livid flesh-color. The nostrils are small and nearly circular. It is described as being a sluggish, repulsive bird, feeding almost exclusively on carrion and such refuse.”
Repulsive and hideous-looking as are a group of Vultures assembled around a carcase of a large animal and gorging themselves to satiety upon its contents, their appearance is very different as they are seen wheeling in circles at a great height in the blue sky of a tropical noon; and no spectacle is more interesting than to watch the Vultures flocking up from all parts when some of their number have detected a prey, and dropped to earth to feast upon it.”—”Royal Natural History,”IV, 254.
The Cinereous Vulture prefers wooded districts and constructs a bulky nest of sticks, usually in a tree, though not rarely on a rocky ledge. They deposit but a single large egg, which is white, richly marked and blotched with red.
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