U> A Description of the Birds 



Genus. NEOPHRON. Savigny. 

 Caput auterius nudum ; col- [I Anterior part of head naked : 

 ban plinnosum, rostrum per- jj neck feathered; bill slender 



elongated : lower mandible in- 

 clined downwards., without go- 

 nys. Nostrils longitudinal. 



gracile elongatvm, mandibida 

 tnferiore deorsum curvata go- 

 nyde radio. Nares longitudi- 

 nales, ovales antrorsum spec- 

 tantes ; r ernes, 3'"*- longissima, 

 rectriceft quatuordecem. 



oval, directed forwards ; third 

 quill feather longest; tail com- 

 posed of fourteen feathers. 



Vultur Lin. Lath. Gin. Gypaetos Bechstein. — Cathartes 

 Meyer, Temminck. — Peronopterus Cuvier. — Catharista Vieillot. 



1 . Neophron AegyptiacuS. Sav. — Witte Kraaiofthe Colonists. 



Vultur Percnopterus Gm. Syst. 1. 249, sp. 7. Lath. — Vultur 

 Leucocephalus Lath. hid. nm. v. 1. sp.2. — L'Ourigourap. Vaill. 

 Ois. d'Afrique, pi. 14. — Le Perenoptere. Cuv. Reg. Animal, v. 1. 



V. albus; remigibus nigris ; crista occipitali, cauda albida, 

 cuneata. 



Bill horn coloured ; cere, forehead ; space round the eyes ; 

 cheeks, ears, chin, and part of the throat bare, and of a yellow 

 or saffron color; eyes light reddish brown; plumage white, 

 usually tinted with yellow ; feathers of nape narrow, elongated, 

 and pointed : primary quill feathers black ; secondaries gray- 

 ish black, with the outer vanes more or less broadly margined 

 with white ; tail fan shaped, and pure white ; legs and toes 

 dirty greenish white, sometimes inclined to reddish yellow ; 

 claws dark horn coloured ; length, from one foot ten to two feet 

 two ; expanse of wings about five feet. The female is a little 

 larger than the male, but of the same color. 



Young. — The prevailing color varies between a black and a 

 brown. In all the specimens I have yet seen, the feathers of 

 the neck, particulary of the cervical portion, have been of a 

 deep black tinge, and of a long narrow pointed form. Those 

 of the shoulders and interscapular region blackish brown, 

 with, in some instances, chesnut coloured spots towards tips; 

 and in others, large whitish or grayish red blotches. The 

 back and rump feathers are usually of a lighter tint than the 

 parts just mentioned, and the breast and belly vary, being 

 brown, rufous brown, or blackish brown in different speci- 

 mens. The crown of the head, and the skin and upper part of 

 the breast, when the bird has just acquired its feathers, are 

 covered with a dirty whitish down, and that becomes more or 

 less interspersed after a few weeks with black hairy feathers 

 The bare parts of the head are a livid red, varying in many 

 places to a fine yellow; the cere is yellowish ; the upper man- 

 dible is livid horn coloured, and the lower greenish yellow; 

 the tarsi and toes are bluish yellow; the claws black, and tliv 

 eyes dark brown. 



