VULTURID.^. 



THE EGYPTIAN VULTURE. 



Neophron percnopterus (Linnceus). 



In October 1825 two birds of this species are said to have been 

 observed near Kilve, Bridgewater Bay, Somersetshire, when one, 

 which had been feeding on the carcase of a sheep, was shot, and 

 proved to be in immature plumage. Another immature example 

 was killed on September 28th 1868, in a farm-yard at Peldon, Essex, 

 whither it had been attracted by the blood of some geese. 



The Egyptian Vulture has wandered to Norway and Germany, but 

 its most northern nesting-places seem to be in Savoy ; while further 

 south it is not uncommon in summer, arriving in Provence and the 

 Pyrenees early in March. It is usually seen in pairs and never 

 breeds in colonies ; but a couple or two are to be noticed near 

 almost every mountain-range in the Spanish Peninsula, as well as in 

 Southern Europe generally, especially in the basins of the Mediter- 

 ranean, Black and Caspian Seas. To Madeira it is only a wanderer, 

 but it inhabits the Canaries, the Cape Verde Islands, and North 

 Africa from Morocco to the Red Sea ; while in winter it goes as far 

 as Cape Colony. From Asia Minor it can be traced to Persia and 



