inhabiting the South of Africa. 13 
ces the approach of maturity. As age advances, the front, and 
from that the head, become covered with hair, and about the 
time when the white feathers begin to make their appearance, 
the last named part, and more or less of the neck, exhibit 
the mixed coating alluded to in speaking of the old bird. 
Obs.—Having never had an opportunity of comparing the 
species just described with specimens of the Vultur Fulvus of 
Europe, I follow the example of the illustrious Temminck* 
in viewing them as identical. At the same time however, it 
must be acknowledged, that a variety of circumstances concur 
to create doubts as to the justness of the conclusion ; such as— 
In the Cape bird, the eyes in adult specimens, are light red- 
dish or reddish yellow, in those of Europe, as stated by the 
author just mentioned,+ they are hazel; in ours the cere is 
livid, in his it is flesh colored; in ours the extreme length 
rarely exceeds three feet eight inches, in his it usually 
measures four feet; in ours the centre of the breast is covered 
with short grayish brown feathers, in his with white down ; 
in ours the head is covered with a dirty dusky hair, in his 
with short white down. In our young specimens the color is 
dark brown, with reddish yellow variegations, in his a very 
clear tawny, with grayish white blotches, or sometimes pure 
white tints. The Chassfiente of Levaillant,§ is certainly an 
immature example of the Cape species, and in or near that 
stage in which the greatest number of South African speci- 
mens are obtained. 
Its food consists of carrion and offal of every description, 
and thus often life can scarcely be said to have left an animal 
before it is consumed by a flock of Vultures. They build 
their nests in crevices of rocks, lay one or two eggs, and 
occur in great abundance throughout the whole of the South 
of Africa. 
2. Vuttur AuRicuLARIS.—Zwarte Aasvogel of the Colonists. 
Vultur Auriculatus, Shaw’s Zoology, vol. 1, p. 24. V. Pon- 
ticerianus, Shaw, vol. 7, p. 25, pl. 10, Temminck, planch, vol. 2. 
L’Oricou Le Vaill. tom. 1, pl. 1. 
V. fuscus sew nigrofuscus; collo nudo, cute auriculari pro- 
ducta torque cervicali, purpuria aut rubra. 
Bill strong ; tip of upper mandible yellow; rest of that and 
the lower greenish yellow or horn color; cere bluish ; eyes 
dark brown ; skin of head, and unfeathered portion of neck, 
vermilion or livid purple, with white variegations; the head 
thinly covered with a brownish white down and some black 
m ee 2’ Ornithogie, tom. 1, fol. 6, seconde edition. 
§ Les Oisseaux d’Afriqus, par M. le Vaillant, tom. 1, fol. 44. 
