

GENUS NEOPHRON. Savigny, 



Now generally adopted by ornithologists, used 

 by Mr Vigors as one of the five forms which 

 compose the family, and considered by that natu- 

 ralist to connect the Raptores with the Natatores 

 by the nearly similar form and shape of the bill 

 to that of Tachypetes or the Fregate Pelicans, 

 and also by the long and amply developed wings. 

 It is evidently an aberrant form ; its members are 

 comparatively weak, and the plumage of the neck 

 runs farther upon the head than in the more 

 typical species. Mr Swainson, in his " Classifi- 

 cation," hints at the probability of Neophron 

 being the Grallatorial genus of the vultures. 



Generic characters. Bill lengthened, slender, 

 straight, with a distinctly hooked tip ; max- 

 illa without any angle ; cere extending half 

 the length of the bill ; nostrils longitudinal, 

 nearly parallel with the margins of the bill ; 



