12 BRITISH BIRDS. 
the Bristol Channel, as recorded by Yarrell &c. in 1825. It is quite 
possible that it has more frequently visited our shores, though not captured. 
Mr. Laver, of this town (Colchester), informs me that many years ago his 
father, who lived near Burnham, further up the Essex coast than Peldon, 
had a flock of Vultures for several days among the large trees on his farm. 
They were known by their bare heads, and were most probably the Egyp- 
tian Vulture.” Both the birds above mentioned were in the brown or 
immature plumage. Such is all the recorded information respecting the 
occurrence of the Egyptian Vulture in Great Britain. 
Its breeding-range may be said to be the mountainous portions of all 
countries in the basin of the Mediterranean, the Caspian, and the Red 
Seas. It also breeds in the Canaries, Madeira, and the Cape-Verd Islands. 
Although a few birds may remain in certain of their breeding-haunts 
throughout the winter, still the greater number migrate southwards down 
the African coasts, and many probably into the interior of the continent, a 
few straying as far south as the Cape colony. It is found throughout 
Persia and Turkestan; but Severtzow did not meet with it in the Pamir, nor 
is it recorded by Prjevalsky from Tibet or Mongolia. In India it is 
replaced by Vultur ginginianus, said to differ in being slightly smaller in 
size, in having the apical portion of the bill pure yellowish flesh-colour 
instead of blackish, and in having the throat much barer of feathers. In 
its habits it is not known to differ from the western species, except that it 
prefers trees to rocks for its nesting-place. There are only two other 
species in this subgenus, both of which are confined to Africa and are 
chocolate-brown in colour instead of white. 
The Egyptian Vulture is as common in Greece and Asia Minor as the 
Griffon Vulture; but, unlike that bird, it is only a summer visitor to these 
countries, arriving towards the end of March, and leaving about the middle 
of September. It is consequently a much later breeder, the earliest eggs 
being found in April. When I was in the Parnassus I took, or saw taken, 
four nests of this interesting bird. Two of them, one on the 5th and the 
other on the 8th of May, were near Castri (the ancient Delphi) ; the third 
was near Drachmana, on the 15th, and the fourth near Arachova, on the 
18th. The Egyptian Vulture does not breed in colonies. It is less d fii- 
cult to please in the choice of a locality ; and the nests are generally acces- 
sible to a good climber without a rope; consequently suitable sites may be 
found im almost every valley of the Parnassus. The scenery of the Par- 
nassus 1s very similar to the mountain-limestone districts of Matleck and 
Dovedale in Derbyshire, but of course on a much grander scale, rising to 
eight thousand feet above the level of the sea. It may conveniently be 
divided into four regions. The lower two thousand feet is covered with 
rocks, olives, aud vines, occasionally varied with fields of Indian corn, 
cotton, and tobacco. Then follow two thousand feet which was once an 
