28 VULTURIDiE. 
BIRDS. 
Order ACCIPITRES^. 
Family Vulturid^e. 
1. VuLTUR MONACHUSj Linn. Black Vulture. 
Spanish. Buitre negro. 
This Vulture is mentioned by Favier as having once 
occurred near Tangier ; and there is a specimen in the Nor- 
wich Museum from that locality, perhaps the identical hird. 
It is probably not so rare in Morocco as Favier implies. On 
the Spanish side of the Straits it is frequently to be seen in 
winter and early spring, though not nearly so abundant as 
the Griflfon; it is more common near Seville than Gibraltar. 
Some breed in Andalucia, as I discovered one nest by watching 
the birds building or, rather, reparing it ; for on examination 
it appeared to be an old nest, probably a Stork^s, and was a 
vast pile of sticks placed on an alder tree^ about fifteen feet 
from the ground, in the midst of the thick jungle of the Soto 
Malabrigo, near Casa Vieja. This place is almost impene- 
trable, surrounded by open marsh, and is formed of a mass 
of huge tussocks placed far apart, on which grow wide- 
spreading sallows^ and brambles well interlaced. The space 
between these tussocks is covered with rushes and sedges, 
growing in mud and water, in places up to the waist. In my 
first expedition to the nest it took me more than half an hour 
to reach the tree, a distance of only about a hundred and fifty 
yards from the edge of this paradise of Water-Rails and 
Aquatic Warblers. Upon climbing the tree it was very difii- 
cult to see mto the nest, as it so overhung, owing to the great 
breadth ; and, alas ! there was no egg, not even any lining. 
* The nomenclature of the Birds of Prey is taken from Mr. Bowdler 
Sharpe's recently published 'Catalogue of Birds ' (vol. i.). 
