The brilliant hue of their heads and necks was changed into a dark blood colour; and their white breasts became dappled with gore.

Their vulturous appetites rendered them regardless of all else.
"Shall we fire, and kill one ?" asked Francois.
"No," said Lucien, "it is not right to deprive the poor creatures of life.

If you wish to get a nearer view of them, have patience, and your wish may be gratified without the expenditure of powder and lead." What Lucien said proved correct.

At the end of half an hour or so, the birds appeared to have eaten as much as they could get into their stomachs; and commenced stalking over the ground with a heavy sluggish gait.

The boys, who had waited patiently, now ran forward; and, finding that the vultures were unable to rise into the air, after a chase--in which Marengo took a prominent part--secured them both.
But they did not hold them long; for the moment that Francois, who was the most eager to seize them, laid his hands upon one, he let it go again with an exclamation of disgust; and ran faster from the vulture, than the latter could run from him! The fetid odour of the creatures--which was quite as strong as that of the carrion itself--was too much for the olfactory nerves of our heroes; and they were all three glad enough to let the king-vultures off without a second encounter.
As they returned to their horses, they observed that the buzzards and black vultures were once more collecting about the remains of the big-horn.