236 Mr. J. H. Gurney's List of a Collection of Birds 



crept out from my cover, for the purpose of despatching the 

 ox with my second, when behold nothing but a skeleton was 

 before me ! — the whole of the noises were made by the birds 

 themselves. 1 never was more astonished in my life. No one 

 would credit the power of lungs these birds have. As for the 

 struggles of the ox, it must have been the noise of their wings, 

 as they were in one mass, tearing and fighting and struggling 

 together, some fifty of them. It was a wild sight, and well worth 

 the seeing. 



3. Neophron percnopterus (Linn.). Egyptian Vulture. 

 Male. Eye reddish brown ; skin round the eye and neck 



bright yellow ; legs pale. This is a very rare bird here, and we 

 know next to nothing of its habits. In its stomach we found 

 bits of bone from one to two inches long, and carrion, appa- 

 rently parts of the blade-bone of an ox. We have never seen 

 these birds with the other Vultures, but they seem to eat the 

 same kind of food. This specimen appeared to be hunting for 

 his food, flying about, and frequently alighting. 



4. Neophron pileatus (Burch.). Pileated Vulture. 



Eye small and dark brown ; skin round the eye and neck 

 flesh-colour ; legs dark. Not so shy as the large Vultures ; fre- 

 quently alight on trees, which 1 have not seen the large Vultures 

 do; feed on carrion. I have seen but few of them. 



5. Gyps FULVUs (Gmel.). Fulvous Griffon Vulture. 



These birds are gregarious ; they gather together in great 

 numbers when any animal dies, to devour it, and will sail in 

 company for a length of time ; they are exceedingly wavy and 

 cunning, circling round and round in the air for hours before 

 they alight, always reconnoitring the ground well. I have been 

 told by a friend, that these birds, when a number are collected 

 together, after having eaten the flesh from one side of a bullock, 

 will all pull together and turn the carcase over, to eat the flesh 

 from the other side. The Cafi"res say that, when short of food, 

 these birds will eat the young shoots and leaves of grass ; and 

 there certainly were a few blades in the stomachs of the two 

 specimens scut. Iris light brown. 



