ACCIPITRES. 211 



Fult. percnoptenus, L. ; F. leucocephalus and V.fuscus, Gm. Enl. 

 407 and 429; Vieillot, Galer. 2; Naum. pi. 3; Vult. de Gingi, 

 Sonn. and Daud. ; Origourap,Y niW. Afr. 14; Rachamah, Bruce ; 

 Pharaoh's Bird, in Egypt. As large as a crow ; throat and cheeks 

 naked; the adult male white, Quills of the wings black; the young 

 and the female brown. This bird is found throughout the whole of 

 the eastern continent, and is particularly common in warm countries, 

 where it is an excellent scavenger, purifying them from carrion, &c. 

 It follows the caravans in the desert to devour all that dies. The 

 antient Egyptians held it in respect on account of the services it 

 renders to the country, and frequently sculptured it on their monu- 

 ments. Even at the present day it is exempt from injury, and pious 

 Mussulmen sometimes bequeath sums of money for the maintenance 

 of a certain number. 



F. jo^a, Bonap. : Vieillot, Am. Sept. pi. 1. (The Urubu.) Of 

 the size and form of the preceding; the bill stronger; the whole 

 body of a brilliant black ; the entire head naked. Common in all 

 the hot and temperate parts of America, where it renders similar 

 services as the Percnopterus in the old continent; flocking round 

 dead bodies, and consuming every kind of filth.* 



Gypaetos, Siorr. — Piiene, Savigny. 



The Griffins, placed by Gmelin in the genus Falco, are more nearly 

 allied to the Vultures in their habits and conformation ; their eyes are 

 even with the head ; their talons proportionably weak ; wings half extend- 

 ed when at rest; the crop, when full, projecting at the bottom of the 

 neck; but their head is completely covered with feathers. Their dis- 

 tinguishing characters consist in a very strong, straight bill, hooked at 

 the end, and inflated on the curve ; nostrils covered by stiff hairs, directed 

 forwards, and in a pencil of similar hairs under the beak ; their tarsi short 

 and feathered to the toes; their wings long, the third quill being the 

 longest. 



Fult. barbarus and Falco barbatus, Gm. PI. Col. 431 ; Edw. 

 106; Vieillot, Gal. pi. 8; Nauman, pi. 4 and 5; Nisser of Bruce, 

 Abyss, pi. 31. (The Lcemmer-geyer, or the Lambs' Vulture). The 

 largest bird of prey belonging to the eastern continent, inhabiting 

 the high chains of mountains, but not very common. It builds its 

 nest on inaccessible acclivities, attacks lambs, goats, the chamois, 

 and, as it is said, even man, when it finds him asleep; it is as- 

 serted that children have been carried away by it. Its usual mode 

 of attack is to force its prey from some precipice, which it then 

 devours, being killed and mangled by the fall. It does not, how- 

 ever, reject dead bodies. Its length is nearly four feet, the distance 

 from the tip of one wing to that of the other being from nine to ten. 

 The mantle is blackish, with a white line on the middle of each 

 feather; the neck, and all the under part of the body are of a light 

 and brilliant fawn-colour ; a black band surrounds the head. The 



* This bird has been confounded for a long time with the aura, but its bill is much 

 more slender. Add the Catharte moine, PI. Col. 222. 



