286 Mr. Ayres on Birds of 



Diagn. — Major; colore flavo magis olivaceo; ventre toto 

 long, tota 6-5, alse 3-8, caudse 2'8. 



Hab. Chili {Gay) ; Southern Patagonia {Darwin and Cun- 

 ningham) . 



We have not been able to refer to Lafresnaye and D'Orbigny's 

 Fringilla gayi, ex Bolivia, stirps major (Mag. de Zool. 1837, 

 p. 75) ; so we cannot say positively that it belongs to this 

 species. 



*^* We hope shortly to have the opportunity of describing 

 the eggs sent home by Dr. Cunningham. — Ed. 



XXVI. — Notes on Bh-ds of the Territory of the Trans- Vaal 

 Republic. By Thomas Ayres*. 



1. (L. 6t-) Gyps FULVUS (Gmel.). Fulvous GrifFon-Vulture. 



I have a small collection from the Limpopo and the road to 

 that river. I was on the whole much disappointed with the 

 birds of that part of the country, there not being anything like 

 the variety I expected to find ; the Raptores are very badly re- 

 presented, except by the Vultures, of which most kinds are 

 numerous, excepting the Pileated and Egyptian, — the GrifiFon 

 being in immense numbers; I can only compare them to a lot 

 of barn-door fowls. They accompany the hunters, and when 

 game is shot wait patiently on the surrounding bushes and 

 trees to eat up whatever offal or meat is left for them, pouncing 

 upon it in scores before one is twenty yards away, and have 

 much more intelligence than I gave them credit for : they 

 know quite well where a camp is about to be broken up, and 

 immediately collect, narrowly watching proceedings, and gra- 

 dually approaching closer and closer as the oxen are being 

 inspanned ; and the waggons are no sooner on the move than 

 down they come, squabbling for the bits of bone lying about, or 

 anything else that may be left that suits their fancy. The lions 

 kill game in the night ; early in the morning the Vultures pro- 

 ceed to the scene of operation, immediately followed by the 



[* Kindly communicated by Mr. John Henry Gurney. — Ed.] 

 t The numbers preceded by " L." in brackets are those by which some 

 of the species are distinguished in Mr. Layard's * Birds of South Africa.' 



