386 VULTUKID^ GYPS 



they are frequently so gorged that they are unable to fly and can 

 only waddle off to a resting place near by to await the relieving 

 process of digestion. 



Instances have been recorded of vultures attacking living animals, 

 and the Woodwards state that they have seen this species attack 

 full grown sheep, while lambs and kids are frequent victims. 



There can be but little doubt that the Vulture is guided to his 

 food by sight and not by scent ; apart from other arguments one of 

 the most convincing is the fact that a dead antelope concealed by 

 branches of trees or bushes is perfectly safe from their attacks 

 for any length of time, while one exposed to view will probably 

 be discovered almost at once. 



This Vulture nests early. Mr. Henry Jackson, a correspondent 

 of Mr. Layard's, obtained a very fine series of eggs at a breed- 

 ing place near Nelspoort in the Beaufort West district. The 

 krantz, on the ledges of which the nests are built, is from 400 to 

 500 feet in height and nearly perpendicular, so that it is only 

 possible to reach the eggs by means of a rope from the top. The 

 nests, composed of sticks, bushes, and grass, in the form of a shallow 

 plate, are about two feet in diameter and contain one egg each ; 

 these are, when fresh, of a dull bluish-white, some slightly speckled 

 with brown and others plain ; all are dirty and slightly stained by 

 the bird itself; they measure about 3-5 x 275. 



Messrs. Ayres, Buckley, and Eriksson, found that this Vulture 

 nested in tall trees, generally mimosas, along the banks of Limpopo ; 

 the last-named collector states that he found a nest on August 13 

 situated in the topmost branches of a large tree ; it was a flat 

 structure of considerable size, formed of sticks, and contained one 

 young bird which could only have been hatched a couple of days. 



The Woodwards have also observed it breeding both on the 

 krantz overhanging the Umtroahumi river in the Alexandra district 

 of Natal and in high fir trees on the banks of the Pongola river in 

 Zululand. 



556. Gyps rueppelli. BilpiJelVs Vulture. 



Vultur kolbii {nee Baud.), Cretzsch. Atl. Biip^j, Vog. p. 47, pi. 32 



(1826). 

 Vultur rueppelli, Brehni, Naum. 1852, pt. 3, p. 44. 

 Gyps fulvus {nee Gmel.), Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 7 (1867). 

 Gyps rueppelli, Gurney, Ibis, 1860, p. 206 [Natal]; id. Deseript. Cat. 



Bapt. B. p. 73 (1861) ; id. in Andersson's B. Damaraland, p. 5 (1872) ; 



