They have no spurs, but still,
such is their high spirit and activity, they browbeat every dunghill fowl
in the yard and force the guinea-birds, dogs and turkeys to own their
superiority.
If, kind and gentle reader, thou shouldst ever visit these regions with an
intention to examine their productions, perhaps the few observations
contained in these wanderings may be of service to thee. Excuse their
brevity: more could have been written, and each bird more particularly
described, but it would have been pressing too hard upon thy time and
patience.
Soon after arriving in these parts thou wilt find that the species here
enumerated are only as a handful from a well-stored granary. Nothing has
been said of the eagles, the falcons, the hawks and shrikes; nothing of the
different species of vultures, the king of which is very handsome, and
seems to be the only bird which claims regal honours from a surrounding
tribe. It is a fact beyond all dispute that, when the scent of carrion has
drawn together hundreds of the common vultures, they all retire from the
carcass as soon as the king of the vultures makes his appearance.
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