18 EGYFIIAN IJIRDS 



walkiii<r, half hopping, on the ground, or when 

 sitting liuddled up, at once di.saf)peurs, and you 

 acclaim the Griffon the king of flying things. A 

 sea-gull, a swallow, an eagle, and nnany another, are 

 all splendid in their graceful mastery over, and use of, 

 the air we live in, but for sheer majesty of dominion 

 I know no equal to the great Griffon Vulture. 



One has often seen it on the sand -banks by 

 the river's side, sitting perhaps, either dozing after 

 a gorge or waiting for the late lamented to reach 

 just that nice point which means dinner-time. 

 Sometimes they mildly squabble amongst them- 

 selves ; sometimes they advance open-mouthed 

 on some late arrival who comes swooping down 

 with feet and legs stretched out well in front of 

 him. But on the whole, I think, after its flight, 

 its one outstanding virtue is its sociability. We 

 none of us quite like that person who shuns his 

 fellows, and was never known to have any gather- 

 ing of friends even in simplest social fashion, and 

 with birds there are some of those selfish kinds 

 who prefer to live alone and feed alone, and 

 absolutely resent any attempted sociability. But 

 the Vulture, in spite of his rather forbidding face, 

 is a downright sociable creature. On many a time 

 one has seen Egyptian Vultures feeding with a 



