EGYPTIAN NEOPHRON. 97 



account of its utility in clearing off putrid sub- 

 stances ;* at the same time, it is said occasionally 

 to feed on reptiles and the smaller animals. Of 

 its nidification we are equally ignorant. Accord- 

 ing to Temminck, it breeds in the most inacces- 

 sible places, in the holes or fissures of some per- 

 pendicular cliff; but the source of this information 

 is not mentioned, neither the number or colour of 

 the eggs. Mr Bruce again adds to his descrip- 

 tion, " It lays but two eggs, and builds its nest in 

 the most desert parts of the country." 



The single specimen upon which we rank this 

 species as an occasional " British visitant," was 

 killed on the shores of the British Channel in 

 October, 1825, and came into the possession of 

 the Rev. A. Mathew of Kilve, in Somersetshire.! 

 When first discovered, it was feeding on the car- 

 case of a dead sheep, and had so gorged itself 

 with the carrion as to be unable or unwilling to 

 fly to any great distance at a time ; it was there- 

 fore approached without much difficulty and shot. 

 Another bird, apparently of this species, was seen 

 at the same time upon the wing at no great dis- 



* This is the Rachmah of Bruce, who states that it is a 

 very great breach of order, or of police, to kill or molest 

 these birds near Cairo App. 163. 



t Mr Mudie, in his " Feathered Tribes," mentions a 

 pair having been seen in the vicinity of Bridgewater in 

 1826, but he does not notice the above. Has he mistaken 

 the place and date of the capture ? 

 G 



