Mr. J. H. Giiruey on the Eggs of the Eared Vulture, <Sj"c. 171 



appear to have found it breeding at all on the ground. Probably 

 its habits in this respect ai*e determined by the locality. 



While on the subject of the Review in No. 4, I may remark 

 that I cannot condemn Herr Badeker for inaccuracy in extending 

 the range of the Common Kingfisher to Africa. I have re- 

 peatedly seen and shot it in Northern Africa, and, unless I am 

 strangely mistaken, have also watched it in the Island of Rhodes. 



XXI. — Note on the Eggs of the Eared Vulture and the TVedge- 

 tailed Eagle. By John Henry Gurney, M.P., F.Z.S. 



A SPECIMEN of the Eared Vulture {Vultur auricularis, Daudin), 

 formerly in the Surrey Zoological Gardens, and now in my pos- 

 session, laid an egg on the 15th February, 1859, which is cor- 

 rectly figured in Dr. Bree's work on European Birds, from a 

 drawing made by Mr. Reeve of the Norwich Museum. On the 

 23rd Febioiary in the present year, the same bird laid a second 

 egg, differing from the first only in being slightly more elongated, 

 and in the rufous colouring on the obtuse end of the egg being 

 considerably more intense. In the bird which laid these eggs, 

 the fleshy folds on the side of the neck (from which this Vulture 

 derives its specific name) are amply developed, proving that these 

 appendages ai'e not limited to the male sex. 



I have also in my possession a pair of Wedge-tailed Eagles 

 of Australia [Aquila audax, Lath.), which were formerly in the 

 menagerie at Knowsley. The female of these laid an egg on 

 the 28th February of the present year. The distribution of the 

 rufous spots on this egg presented an intermediate appearance 

 between the two specimens figured in the Zoological Society's 

 Proceedings for 1850 (Aves, pi. 19. p. 91). As the female 

 bird appeared desirous of incubating the egg, she was allowed 

 to retain possession of it till the third day, when it was found 

 to have been broken, — but how, I am unable to say. 



N 2 



