VULTURID.fi. 



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THE EGYPTIAN VULTURE. 



Neophron percn(')pterus (Linnaeus). 



In October 1825 two birds of this species are said to have been 

 observed near Kilve, on the shores of Bridgewater Bay in Somerset- 

 shire, and one, gorged with the carcase of a sheep, was shot. It 

 proved to be in immature phimage ; as was another example killed 

 on September 28th 1868, in a farm-yard at Peldon, Essex, to which 

 it had been attracted by the blood of some geese. 



The Egyptian Vulture has wandered to Norway and Germany, but 

 its nearest nesting-place is in the cliffs of Mont Saleve (just within 

 French territory), near Geneva ; though furtlicr south it is not un- 

 common in summer, arriving in Provence and the Pyrenees early in 

 March. It is usually seen in pairs, and never breeds in colonies ; 

 but a couple or two are to be seen near almost every mountain- 

 range in the Spanish Peninsula and in Southern Europe generally, 

 especially in the basins of the Mediterranean, Black and Caspian 

 Seas. It inhabits Madeira, the Canaries, the Cape Verd Islands, 

 and North Africa from Morocco to Egypt and the Red Sea ; while 

 in winter it goes down to Cape Colon)'. Erom Asia Minor and 



