Fig. 339—Vultur percnopterus
An unclean bird (). The species of vulture, properly so called, have the head naked or downy, the crop external, and very long wings; they have all an offensive smell, and we know of none that even the scavenger-ants will eat. When dead they lie on the ground untouched till the sun has dried them into mummies. Those found in and about the Egyptian territory are Vultur fulvus, V. gyps (Savigny), V. Ægyptius (Savigny), V. monachus (Arabian vulture), V. cinereus, V. Nubicus, and a black species, which is often figured on Egyptian monuments as the bird of victory, hovering over the head of a national hero in battle, and sometimes with a banner in each talon. It is perhaps the gypaetus barbatus (peres), or lammer geyer; for though neither a vulture nor an eagle, it is the largest bird of prey of the old continent, and is armed like the eagle with formidable claws. The head is wholly feathered; its courage is equal to its powers, and it has a strength of wing probably superior to all raptorians, excepting the condor. It is found with little or no difference from Norway to the Cape of Good Hope, and from the Pyrenees to Japan. Most of the above-named species are occasionally seen in the north of Europe. The voice varies in different species, but those of Egypt, frequenting the Pyramids, are known to bark in the night like dogs. Excepting the carrion vultures, all the other species are of large size; some superior in bulk to the swan, and others a little less.
There can be no doubt that the White Carrion Vulture (Vultur percnopterus) is the bird called in Hebrew (as it still is in Arabic) Racham, rendered Gier-eagle in; . It forms a small group of Vulturidae, subgenerically distinguished by the name of Percnopterus and Neophron, differing from the other vultures in the bill being longer, straight, more attenuated, and then uncinated, and in the back of the head and neck being furnished with longish, narrow, suberectile feathers. In size the species is little bulkier than a raven, but it stands high on the legs. Always soiled with blood and garbage, offensive to the eye and nose, it yet is protected in Egypt both by law and public opinion for the services it renders in clearing the soil of dead carcasses putrefying in the sun, and the cultivated fields of innumerable rats, mice, and other vermin. It extends to Palestine in the summer season, but becomes scarce towards the north, where it is not specially protected; and it accompanies caravans, feasting on their leavings and on dead camels, etc.
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John Kitto was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent.Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his family meant that much of his childhood was spent in the workhouse. He had no more than three years of erratic and interrupted education. At the age of twelve John Kitto fell on his head from a rooftop, and became totally and permanently deaf. As a young man he suffered further tragedies, disappointments and much loneliness. His height was 4 ft 8 in, and his accident left him with an impaired sense of balance. He found consolation in browsing at bookstalls and reading any books that came his way.
From these hardships he was rescued by friends who became aware of his mental abilities and encouraged him to write topical articles for local newspapers, arranging eventually for him to work as an assistant in a local library. Here he continued to educate himself.
One of his benefactors was the Exeter dentist Anthony Norris Groves, who in 1824 offered him employment as a dental assistant. Living with the Groves family, Kitto was profoundly influenced by the practical Christian faith of his employer. In 1829 he accompanied Groves on his pioneering mission to Baghdad and served as tutor to Groves's two sons. In 1833 Kitto returned to England via Constantinople, accompanied by another member of the Groves mission, Francis William Newman. Shortly afterwards he married, and in due course had several children.
A London publisher asked Kitto to write up his travel journals for a series of articles in the Penny Magazine, a publication read at that time by a million people in Britain, reprinted in America and translated into French, German and Dutch. Other writing projects followed as readers enquired about his experiences in the East amidst people living in circumstances closely resembling those of Bible times.
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