14 A Description of the Birds 
hairs ; the neck bare, or with a still more scanty covering of 
the like materials; and on each side thereof a thin fold of 
loose skin, extending downwards and forwards several inches 
below the ears, usually about one inch in breadth, and similar 
in color to the head. Throat, and middle of breast, covered 
with fine short black feathers ; back of neck with a ruff of long 
narrow coarse brownish feathers, many of which are turned 
forwards; lower part of cervix, back, and shoulders, dark 
brown, many of the feathers margined with a lighter tint ; 
quills and tail black, with the latter consisting of twelve 
feathers. Under parts brownish black, the feathers long, 
narrow, somewhat curved, and broadly edged with white 
towards their bases, and narrowly with dirty light brown 
elsewhere ; thighs with a few brownish feathers on their 
outer sides, but their principal covering is a fine reddish 
brown down; legs and toes pale bluish, with a tinge of green; 
claws dark horn coloured, inclined to black; length about 
three feet four or six inches; expanse of wings ten feet. In 
this species the back and shoulders are generally mottled by 
an. intermixture of white feathers, having the tips more or 
less semicircular,* which circumstance, together with the 
other feathers being to a certain extent poimted, renders it 
probable that the plumage of the mature bird is nearly all 
white, and that the specimen seen by Burchell} was one of 
the present species in that stage. 
Young.—In immature specimens the bill is more of a dark 
horn colour; the eyes are a more deep brown; the upper 
part of the head and neck have a more dense coating of 
brownish white down; the throat, and centre of the breast,. 
are nearly the same at all ages; the color of the skin, neck, 
and auricles is less bright, and the latter are rather smaller. 
The back of the neck is without the ruff, at least the feathers 
are not longer there than elsewhere, though a little more 
frizzy ; the plumage above is dark brown, the feathers edged 
and tipt with dirty rufous; the quills and tail are of a less 
dense black than in aged specimens; the feathers of the 
breast and belly are narrower and straighter, of a lighter 
tinge, and with the edges and tips of a dirty light brownish 
white ; the thighs are covered with a whitish down ;¢ the legs 
and toes are of a fainter bluish green, and the claws are more 
horn coloured. Before the feathers appear, the bird is covered 
* Having observed that a change in the form of the tips of feathers usually 
takes place in various Vultures, and other birds of prey, at times when they are 
in their most vigorous and perfect state, I am inclined to believe that, eventually, 
such will enable us to discriminate between mature and immature specimens ; 
at least, of certain genera. 
+ Burchell’s Travels in South Africa, vol. 2, page 194. 
{ The color of the down of the legs seems to vary without any regular rule, 
and, therefore, requires more observation in order to decidein what stage, or in 
what sex, it exhibits the one hue or the other. 
