16 A Description of the Birds 
Genus. NEOPHRON. Savigny. 
Caput anterius nudum ; col- Anterior part of head naked ; 
lum plumosum, rostrum per- | neck feathered ; bill slender 
gracile elongatum, mandibula | elongated ; lower mandible in- 
inferiore deorsum curvata go- | clined downwards, without go- 
nyde nullo. Nares longitudi- | nys. Nostrils longitudinal, 
nales, ovales antrorsum spec- || oval, directed forwards; third 
tantes ; remex, 3ta. longissima, |, quill feather longest; tail com- 
rectrices quatuordecem. | posed of fourteen feathers. 
Vultur Lin. Lath. Gin. Gypaetos Bechstein.—Cathartes 
Meyer, Temminck.—Peronopterus Cuvier.—Catharista Vieillot. 
1. NsorpHron Anreyptiacus. Sav.— Witte Kraai of the Colonists. 
Vultur Percnopterus Gm. Syst. 1. 249, sp. 7. Lath.—Vultur 
Leucocephalus Lath. Ind. orn. v. 1. sp.2.—L’Ourigourap. Vaill. 
Ois. d Afrique, pl. 14.—Le Perenoptere. Cuv. Reg. Animal, v.1. 
V. albus ; remigibus nigris; crista occipitali, cauda albida, 
cuneata. 
Bill horn coloured; cere, forehead ; space round the eyes; 
cheeks, ears, chin, and part of the throat bare, and of a yellow 
or saffron color; eyes light reddish brown; plumage white, 
usually tinted with yellow ; feathers of nape narrow, elongated, 
and pointed; primary quill feathers black ; secondaries gray- 
ish black, with the outer vanes more or less broadly margined 
with white; tail fan shaped, and pure white; legs and toes 
dirty greenish white, sometimes inclined to reddish yellow; 
claws dark horn coloured ; length, from one foot ten to two feet 
two; expanse of wings about five feet. The female isa little 
larger than the male, but of the same color. 
Young.—The prevailing color varies between a black and a 
brown. In all the specimens I have yet seen, the feathers of 
the neck, particularly of the cervical portion, have been of a 
deep black tinge, and of a long narrow pointed form. Those 
of the shoulders and interscapular region blackish brown, 
with, in some instances, chesnut coloured spots towards tips ; 
and in others, large whitish or grayish red blotches. The 
back and rump feathers are usually of a lighter tint than the 
parts just mentioned, and the breast and belly vary, being 
brown, rufous brown, or blackish brown in different speci- 
“mens. The crown of the head, and the skin and upper part of 
the breast, when the bird has just acquired its feathers, are 
covered with a dirty whitish down, and that becomes more or 
less interspersed after a few weeks with black hairy feathers 
The bare parts of the head are a livid red, varying in many 
places to a fine yellow; the cere is yellowish; the upper man- 
dible is livid horn coloured, and the lower greenish yellow; 
the tarsi and toes are bluish yellow ; the claws black, and the 
eyes dark brown. 
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