Iv * “NULTURIDAE 145 
that continent, has a yellower head and browner back ; G. indicus 
of India and the Indo-Malay mainland, from which G. pallescens 
is hardly separable, has a barer head and comparatively thin bill ; 
the former breeds in trees in place of rocks. Pseudogyps bengal- 
ensis, the White-backed Vulture, ranging through India and down 
the Malay Peninsula, is black above, but brownish below, with the 
thin downy ruff and lower back white; the bill is greyish, the cere, 
feet, naked head and neck are black, the irides brown. | This bird 
snorts, hisses, or even roars, and walks easily, though awkwardly. 
It nests in company on trees, and often lines the large stick-fabric 
with foliage, as do so many other Raptorial forms; the greenish-white 
eges, seldom marked with red, vary much in bulk. P. africanus, 
of North-East and West Africa, is decidedly browner. 
The genus Veophron contains the smallest Vultures, VV. pereno- 
pterus being called, from its frequent occurrence on Egyptian hiero- 
glyphs, the Egyptian Vulture or Pharaoh’s Hen. It has wandered 
thrice to Britain and also to North Europe, while it breeds from 
Savoy and Provence to Madeira, the Canaries, the Cape Verds, 
North Africa, and India, meeting in the last-named the smaller JV. 
ginginianus ; in winter it visits South Africa, where it is called 
the “ White Crow.” The plumage is white, with black primaries 
and partially brown secondaries ; a ruff of lanceolate feathers ex- 
tends up to the occiput, the naked head and neck are yellow, the tip 
of the bill alone being black ; the feet are pink, the irides crimson. 
Often seen striding sedately along in search of animal and vegetable 
refuse or dung, this species also follows the plough and devours 
worms, grubs, insects, reptiles, and frogs; while from its alleged 
habit of breaking bones left by other Vultures, it is called 
“ Quebranta-huesos ” or “ bone-smasher ” by the Spaniards.’ The 
flizht is slow and easy, the voice a croak. The flat nest of sticks, 
lined with soft materials, and especially rags, is placed on a crag or 
tree, and contains two white eggs with red-brown or claret blotches. 
N. pileatus of South Africa—which has a larger north-eastern and 
western form—is brown, with black wings and tail, downy whitish 
nape, purplish naked areas, dusky bill and feet, and brown irides. 
Of fossil forms there are recorded Gyps melitensis * trom the 
Plistocene of Malta. and Vultur from that of France.” 
1 Chapman and Buck, Wild Spain, 1893, p. 206. The Black Vulture, however, 
may possibly be meant, as the Egyptian Vulture does not seem to break bones. 
* Lydekker, P.Z.S. 1890, p. 404.  ° Id. Cat. Fossil Birds Brit. Mus. 1891, p. 29. 
WOU IDX L 
