I20 THE NESTS AND EGGS OF 



years in succession. This Vulture is gregarious and 

 breeds in colonies, the nests being scattered here and 

 there amongst the cliff's which the birds frequent. The 

 nest, which is patched up and often added to each year, 

 is often a massive bulky structure, and is generally made 

 on the floor of a little cave near the entrance, or at the 

 bottom of some wide hollow, especially in such spots 

 where the cliffs overhang and are covered above and 

 below with a dense and impenetrable growth of aloes, 

 prickly pears, and other vegetation. It is made of sticks, 

 twigs, and branches of trees, and lined with dry grass, 

 leaves, and dead palmettoes. Some nests are very neatly 

 finished, the bowl or cup containing the eggs being some 

 fifteen inches across and four or five inches deep. The 

 newer nests are usually not so elaborate nor so neatly 

 finished as the older ones, which are the work of years. 

 All round about the place where the nest is situated is 

 splashed with the white droppings of the birds, and a 

 sickly often almost unbearable stench pervades the 

 whole colony. When disturbed the birds rise into the 

 air and wheel about, occasionally swooping past their 

 nests, but never showing the slightest inclination to 

 attack the intruder. If the first eggs are taken others 

 are generally laid. 



Range of egg colouration and measurement: 

 The eggs of the Griffon Vulture are rarely two in number 

 and generally only one. They are coarse in grain, have 

 little or no polish, and are generally white without mark- 

 ings, save perhaps a few nest- or blood-stains. Many 

 eggs, however, are somewhat sparingly marked with 

 genuine colour pigment. I have examined many of 

 these spotted eggs in the National and other collections. 

 Some eggs are sparingly streaked with grayish-brown, 

 others are blotched and spotted with reddish-brown over 

 most of the surface, whilst others yet again are irrcgu- 



