WAGELL 1017 
Egyptian Vulture, and in Africa nearly reaches the Equator, extend- 
ing also in Asia to the Himalayas; but both in the Ethiopian and 
Indian Regions its range inosculates with that of several allied forms 
or species. Pseudogyps with two forms—one Indian, the other 
African—differs from Gyps by having twelve instead of fourteen 
rectrices. Of the genera Ofogyps and Lophogyps nothing here need 
be said; and then we have Vultur, with, as mentioned before, its 
sole representative, V. monachus, commonly known as the Cinereous 
Vulture, a bird which is found from the Strait of Gibraltar to the 
sea-coast of China. Almost all these birds inhabit rocky cliffs, on 
the ledges of which they build their nests,” 
W 
WAGELL,? the Cornish name of a bird of which Ray and Wil- 
lughby were told, 30th June 1662, on Godreve Island near St. Ives 
in Cornwall (Memorials of Ray, ed. Lankester, p. 188, and Ray, 
Collection of Words, p. 93). From what is said of it the Arctic 
Gull (Skua, p. 870) seems to have been meant, but they took it 
to be the young of what we now know as Larus marinus, and so the 
name has been attached to that species by subsequent writers.4 
1 The geographical range of the various species of Vultures has been treated 
by Dr. Sharpe (Journ. Linn. Soc. Zool. xiii. pp. 1-26, pls. i.-ix.). 
2 The question whether Vultures in their search for food are guided by sight 
of the object or by its scent has long excited interest. Without denying to them 
the olfactory faculty, it is now generally admitted, notwithstanding the assertions 
to the contrary of Waterton and a few more, that the former is in almost every 
case sufficient to account for the observed facts. It is known that directly a 
camel drops dead, as the caravan to which it belonged is making its way across 
the desert, Vultures of one sort or another appear, often in considerable numbers, 
though none had before been observed by the traveller, and speedily devour the 
carcase over which they are gathered together. The mode in which communica- 
tion is effected between the birds, which are soaring at an immense height, seems 
at first inexplicable, but Canon Tristram suggested (Zbis, 1859, p. 280) a simple 
solution of the supposed mystery :—‘‘The Griffon who first descries his quarry 
descends from his elevation at once. Another, sweeping the horizon at a still 
greater distance, observes his neighbour’s movements and follows his course. A 
third, still further removed, follows the flight of the second ; he is traced by 
another ; and so a perpetual succession is kept up so long as a morsel of flesh 
remains over which to consort.” 
3 The derivation and pronunciation of this word are unknown to me. It is 
spelt indifferently by Ray with one Z or two. I preserve the latter form as pos- 
sibly indicating a stress to be laid on the last syllable. 
+ See Additions to Borlase’s Natural History (reprinted from Journ. R. Inst. 
Cornwall, Oct. 1865), Truro: 1865, p. 46. 
