14 BRITISH BIRDS. 
The Egyptian Vulture is said to eat snakes and other reptiles ; but car- 
rion is no doubt its main food. ‘Tristram describes very graphically how 
a dead camel is first preyed upon by the wolves and jackals. The Griffon 
Vultures wait until the quadrupeds are satisfied, and then they take their 
turn ; and not until they have gorged themselves are the Egyptian Vultures 
allowed to begin their meal. In the Golden Horn, in Constantinople, I 
have seen them picking up dead fish and other offal from the surface of 
the water in company with Black Kites and Gulls. 
In Stamboul they breed in the old cypresses, and on the walls and 
mosques; and Col. Irby mentions an instance of one breeding in an old 
nest of a Short-toed Eagle, in a cork-tree, near Gibraltar. Lord Lilford 
describes these birds in Andalusia as following the plough to pick up the 
grubs turned up by the ploughshare. Tristram describes them in Palestine 
as resorting to the dunghills of the villages to feed, eagerly devouring all 
sorts of animal or vegetable filth, and mentions a pair which he surprised 
in the act of gorging at a heap of spoilt figs. He also states that the dung 
of the flocks and herds of the Bedouins is their favourite food. He 
describes their nests as very large ; but these would probably be old Eagles’ 
or Ravens’ nests which had been appropriated by the Egyptian Vultures. 
The flight of this Vulture is very similar to that of the Griffon. J. H. 
Gurney, jun., describing its habits in Algeria, says that ‘ both in ascending 
and in descending it usually flies in circles. Like most other birds of prey, 
it rarely flaps its wings, but, with pimions motionless, slightly upturned at 
the tips, it scans the surrounding country from an enormous height, 
receding rapidly from the eye, yet appearing to fly but slowly. The 
nearer the ground the smaller are the circles, and the more lowered is the 
inner wing; in fact, when about to settle, the bird is nearly sideways, the 
point of one wing appearing to be directly beneath the point of the other. 
It walks with long strides, but not fast, stooping first on one side and then 
on the other.” 
The Egyptian Vulture, when adult, is a nearly white bird, with black 
primaries and brown secondaries. The bill is dark brown, and the cere 
yellow ; legs and toes flesh-colour, claws black. In the immature birds 
the feathers are dark brown, tipped with buff. 
