88 BIRDS OF TUNISIA 



stuff or rags from some Arab encampment. The eggs are nearly 

 always two in number, rarely more or less, and vary considerably in 

 their shape, colour and marking. As a rule, however, they are of a 

 dirty yellowish-white, richly marked with reddish-brown spots and 

 blotches ; they measure about 65 X 52 mm. Unlike the Griffon, this 

 Vulture breeds in isolated pairs, but several pairs may sometimes be 

 found nesting in the same mountain range if it is sufficiently exten- 

 sive to provide a separate territory for each. 



Family GYPAETIDiE. 



GYPAETUS BARBATUS (Liunaeus). 



BEAEDED VULTUEE. 



Yultur barbatus, Linn. Sy.st. Nat. i, p. 123 (1766). 



Gypaetus barbatus, Storr, Alpcnrcisc, p. 69 (1784) ; Sharpc, Cat. Birds 



Bvit. Mus. i, p. 228 ; Malherbc, Cat. Bais. d'Ois. Alg. p. 5 (1846) ; 



Loche, Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. i, p. 13 (1867) ; Koenirj, J. f. 0. 1888, p. 



146 ; id. J. f. 0. 1892, p. 292. 

 G. barbatus atlantis, Erlanger, J.f. 0. 1898, p. 395. 



Description. — Adult male, from Sicily. 



Crown, nape, sides of head, and hind neck creamy-white ; lores, a broad 

 stripe passing over and round the eye, an irregular stripe extending along 

 the centre of the crown and a small patch below the eye deep black, these 

 parts being chiefly covered with bristles ; a beard of black bristles springing 

 from the base of the lower mandible ; back and rest of the upper parts 

 l)Iackish-grey, rather glossy, most of the feathers with white shafts, and 

 those on the mantle, scapulars and upper wing-coverts with a cream-coloured 

 median line and tip ; under parts rusty-orange colour on the chin, throat 

 and breast, becoming paler on the abdomen and remainder of the lower 

 surface ; tail wedge-shaped ; feet feathered down to toes. 



Iris pale straw-colour; sclerotic membrane blood-red ; bill bluish-horn, 

 darker at the tip ; feet lead-colour. 



Total length 45 inches, wing 31, culmen 3-50, tarsus 3-50. 



Adult female similar to the male. 



The genus Gypaetus seems to form a link between the true Vultures 

 and the Falconidce, and its characters are no doubt such as to require 

 its being placed in a separate family. 



