EGYPTIAN VULTURE. 



PLATE II. 



Neophron percnopterus, , SAVIGNY. 



Vultur Egyptiacus, LA.THAM. 



CatJiartcs percnopterus, TEMMLNCK. 



Two specimens of this species, supposed to be a pair, were 

 observed in the county of Somerset, near the shore, or to speak 

 more accurately, near one of the shores of the Bristol Channel, in 

 the month of October, in the year 1825. Whether, indeed, they 

 were a real or only an apparent pair 'par impar' can certainly 

 now never be decided, for one only of the two was obtained; the 

 other, though it remained a few days in the neighbourhood, which 

 certainly favours the supposition that they may have been husband 

 and wife, then took its departure; perhaps in quest of a fresh mate; 

 has never been seen from that day to this; and, as certainly, never 

 will be seen, at all events to be recognised, again. The question 

 must therefore ever remain unsettled, and, as already observed, this 

 having been the only pair, or pseudo pair, that have ever made 

 their way to these islands, we cannot predicate much, of our own 

 immediate knowledge, of the nest and eggs of the Egyptian Vulture. 



But though 'hearsay is no evidence' in a court of law, yet it will, 

 because from the nature of the case it must, always be allowed to 

 have its due weight 'in foro scientia?;' and the following is the 

 recorded deposition that I am able to tender on the subject: 



The nest is placed among high and inaccessible precipices, in 

 crevices and clefts of mountains; whence the birds 



'From dark recesses where they lie, 



Or from another quarter of the sky, 



With filthy claws their odious meal repeat.' 



