GRIFFON VULTURE. 5 
its breeding-quarters it may almost be considered sedentary. The Griffon 
Vulture has two near allies; indeed it is doubtful whether these birds are 
deserving of even subspecific rank. Gyps fulvescens is the Indian race, 
differing from the Griffon in being of a rich ruddy bay colour, with con- 
spicuous narrow pale median stripes to the feathers of the underparts, 
and in having a short stout bill. In South Africa it is replaced by Gyps 
kolbi (Daud.), said to be slightly smaller in size, and differing in its light 
and almost uniform coloration, and which inhabits South Africa to the 
Zambesi on the east, and to Damara Land on the west coast, but more 
sparingly in the latter country (cf. Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. i. p. 8). 
This bird is again closely related to the Gyps himalayensis of North India 
and Turkestan, a larger bird and remarkable for its brown-coloured young. 
I first made the acquaintance of the Griffon Vultures in the rock-bound 
valley to the east of Smyrna, and afterwards in the Parnassus, and at 
Missolonghi I saw so much of them that I began to look upon them as very 
common birds; nevertheless when I renewed my acquaintance with them 
last spring in the Pyrenees they interested me as much as if I had never 
seen them before. In Greece and Asia Minor they are so abundant that 
one naturally wonders where.they all find food. Upon the ledges of the 
limestone cliffs which guard the vines and olives below, no doubt the grass 
is rich and tempting, and now and then a sheep or a goat may slip and 
find an untimely end on the broken rocks half concealed by the oaks, the 
oleanders, the roses, and the clematis which adorn the borderland be- 
tween the precipices and cultivation. Such an accident is a windfall for 
the Griffon and Egyptian Vultures, one of whom is almost sure to have 
witnessed it, and by his eager flight to have betrayed the prize to an ever- 
increasing circle of hungry birds, always on the qui vive to discover a meal, * 
or a fellow Vulture who knows or has a suspicion of one. As the camel 
can drink enough to last him for many days, the Griffon Vultures seem 
able to eat enormously at a meal, and to be able to go for a long time 
without a fresh supply. When they have gorged themselves they will sit 
motionless for hours on some commanding crag; otherwise they are gene- 
rally on the wing, sailing round and round in majestic curves, seldom 
coming within range of gunshot, unless you suddenly meet them wheeling 
round the corner of a crag, or occupied upon the dead body of a mule or 
a camel. The flight of the Griffon Vultures is very majestic; they float 
and soar without apparent effort, as if they disdained to flap a wing, 
wheeling round and round in grand sweeps. The wings are very broad ; 
and each quill is conspicuously displayed at the extremities, which are 
curved upwards by the resistance of the air. The tail is very short. As the 
bird flies or, rather, floats, the fore half of the upper parts are grey and the 
hind half black. The nature of their food makes them, in a certain sense, 
gregarious ; but even when twenty or thirty can be seen on the wing toge- 
