4 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
3. OroGyrs AURICULARIS. Eared Vulture. 
The Black Vulture is generally distributed, but is not seen in such 
large flocks as the Griffon, from which it keeps aloof, sailing round 
in enormous circles, at a great altitude. It usually hunts in pairs, 
and seems to have dominion over the common species. 
Le Vaillant states that the eggs are white; but those which we 
have obtained from the Frenchhock mountains, about 50 miles from 
Cape Town, are of a dirty white ground, profusely blotched and 
speckled with deep red-brown (dried-blood colour), especially at the 
obtuse end, where the blotches become confluent. Axis, 3” 9; 
diam., 2” 9", weight 9 oz. Another specimen is nearly spotless, 
and throughout of a dirty white. In the Zwartberg mountains this 
species builds on dense; flat-topped bushes, forming a vast accumu 
lation of sticks, so closely matted together that a single nest will 
hold and sustain the weight of several men. This is resorted to for 
several years, until the lice and insects generated in the mass be- 
come unbearable to the parent birds. I have never heard of more 
than one egg ina nest. ItlaysinJune. Mr. Atmore says the young 
remain in the nest nearly a year. 
Mr. Andersson states that it is the ‘commonest species of Vulture 
in Damara and Great Namaqua Land, and is also found in all the 
parts bordering those countries.’ Mr. Ayres likewise records it as 
inhabiting Natal, where however it is more wary and difficult to 
procure than the Griffon. He has also found it breeding in Trans- 
vaal. It extends as far as the Zambesi, being noticed by Dr. Kirk 
in that district, although no specimens were preserved by him. 
Mr. Buckley writes :—“ An egg in my collection measures 3°48 x 
2°76 inches. In colour it is dirty white marked all over with small 
reddish-brown marks, which become more numerous, larger and more 
defined at the smaller end. This egg was taken about June 1870, in 
the Salt River Vley, within fifty miles of the Nieuwveldt Mountains, 
from a nest which was placed at the top of a mimosa tree. The 
bird only lays one egg.” 
The Eared Vulture of North-eastern Africa is supposed to be a 
different species from that inhabiting the Cape, and Mr. Gurney has 
the following remarks in his excellent catalogue of the birds of prey 
in the Norwich Museum :—“ Many of the specimens of this Vulture, 
killed in South Africa, are found to be destitute of the peculiar fold 
