302 



GRIFFON-VULTURE. 



The Griffon-Vulture breeds in small numbers not far from 

 Biarritz, and in several localities just within the French frontier on 

 the northern side of the Pyrenees ; also in the Departments of 

 Hautes and Basses Alpes and Alpes Maritimes. Throughout the 

 mountainous portions of the Spanish Peninsula it is common, as it 

 is in most of the situations suitable to its habits in Southern Europe 

 and along the basins of the Mediterranean, Black and Caspian 

 Seas ; but north of the Alps and the Carpathians it is of very rare 

 occurrence, although it has been obtained in Germany and Poland. 

 In Russia it is found up to about lat. 50°, and along the Ural 

 Mountains it has considerably extended its range northward during 

 the last thirty years. In x\sia it can be traced to Turkestan and 

 Northern India, where, however, it meets with a larger form which 

 has been separated as G. hinialayensis ; wiiile in Africa it is resi- 

 dent as far south as Nubia, though represented by G. kolbi in the 

 South. 



Towards the end of January the Griffon-Vultures may be seen 

 building or repairing their nests with branches of trees and claws- 

 full of grass torn up by the roots. Th,eir usual resorts are overhung 

 ledges, cavities and fissures, such as are especially frequent in lime- 

 stone ranges, and are seldom accessible from above without a rope ; 

 while owing to thick scrub the base of the cliff is often unattain- 

 able. In the latter part of February, though sometimes not till 

 the end of March, i and not unfrequently 2 eggs are laid ; they are 

 rough in texture, and usually white in colour, but some are more or 

 less marked with genuine blotches of a rusty-brown, as well as 

 with blood-stains: average measurements 37 by 2*8 in. A strong 

 and unpleasant musky smell pervades the eggs, the nest, and the 

 whole dung-splashed ledge. Like other Vultures, this species 

 hunts by means of its keen sight ; the alteration in the flight 

 of the nearest bird, on the discovery of a carcase or other carrion, 

 being quickly noticed and foUowed-up by more distant individuals. 

 During the lambing season I have seen it on the ground, assiduous 

 in its attendance upon the ewes ; but it is an arrant coward and I 

 never knew of its touching any living thing. It is at all times 

 somewhat gregarious. 



The general colour is buffish-brown, with black on the wings and 

 tail ; the head and neck are covered with whitish down ; and there 

 is a broad ruff, which is composed of long whitish tilaments in the 

 adult, but of brownish acuminate feathers in the young ; under 

 parts striated buff in the adult ; warm fulvous in the young. Length 

 about 42 in. 



