BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
ORDER ACCIPITRES. 
SUB-ORDER FALCONES. 
Fam. VULTURIDZ. 
1. Gyps KOLBII. South African Griffon Vulture. 
Gyps fulvus, Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 6 (1867). 
This Vulture is now recognized as distinct from the ordinary 
Griffon of Europe, and when seen alive by the side of that bird is at 
once recognisable by its general paler coloration when adult, and 
uniform under surface. Although pretty generally distributed 
through the colony, it appears to become rarer towards Damara Land, 
as Mr. Andersson writes that it is only sparingly found there. “I 
have only observed it,” he says, ‘‘in the vicinity of the sea, above 
Oosop rocks, on the lower course of the Swakop River.” Farther 
north on the west coast it is not known to occur, as Sefor Anchieta, 
who is travelling from the northward into Damara Land, has not yet 
succeeded in finding it. On the eastern coast, however, it is much 
morecommon. Mr. Rickard notices it from Port Elizabeth and East 
London, and it is plentiful in Natal according to Mr. Ayres. The 
latter gentleman found it very numerous during his journey from 
Potchefstroom to the Iimpopo River, and it is doubtless this species 
which was met with in the Zambesi delta during November and 
December, by Dr. Kirk (cf. Ibis, 1864, p. 314). During his journey 
through the Matabili country Mr. T. EH. Buckley says it was not a 
very common species. 
The present bird is one of the typical South African species, being, 
as far as we know its range, confined to the limits adopted for the 
present work. Its nearest ally is G. himalayensis of Hume from the 
B 
