round, coarse-shelled, and usually of a greyish white, thickly sprinkled with yellow spots. Both parents assist in the work of incubation, the male bird relieving his mate during the mid-day hours. The young grow very slowly, and after leaving the nest, subsist, according to Heuglin, upon such food as they can pick up on the sea-shore or river banks. THE URUBU, OR TURKEY BUZZARD. The URUBU (_Cathartes aura_) is the first of the two species of American Vultures that we have selected from amongst the many varieties inhabiting the western continent, all of which, though differing somewhat in appearance, bear so close a resemblance to each other in their habits and mode of life that we shall content ourselves with speaking of them collectively. The Urubu or "Turkey Buzzard," as it is called in North America, is distinguished by its short thick beak, graduated tail, and low tarsi. The head and bare parts of the neck are of a flesh colour, deepest at the base of the beak, and become gradually paler towards the nape; the top of the head is violet. The skin upon the brow and nape hangs in thick folds, and that of the throat is overspread with orange-coloured warts; a few bristle-like feathers are scattered over the crown of the head and around the ears; the entire body, wings, and tail are brownish black, and gleam with a metallic lustre. The beak is pale red, and partially covered by the cere, in the upper part of which the large oval nostrils are situated; the eyes are bright red, and have a blueish grey circle around the pupil. The length of this species is about twenty-two and its breadth sixty-three inches; the wing measures nineteen inches and the tail ten and a half. THE GALLINAZO. The GALLINAZO (_Coragyps atratus_), as the second species is called, possesses a rather longer and thinner beak, comparatively high tarsi, and a shorter tail, which is straight at its extremity. The bare head and fore part of the throat are dark grey, deepening in some parts into black; the body, wings, and tail are pale black, shaded with reddish brown. The wing-feathers are white at their origin, the eyes dark brown, the beak blackish brown, whitish at the tip. The top of the head, from the base of the upper mandible to the nape, is covered with a regular succession of folds of skin, placed one behind the other. The length of this bird is twenty-three, its breadth fifty-two inches; the wing measures fifteen, and the tail about seven inches. [Illustration: THE URUBU (_Cathartes aura_).]