8 VULTURID^. 



to it. The birds roost on the trees in the vicinity, or on 

 the fences which bound the inclosures formed for their 

 cattle. They are to a certain degree domiciled and harm- 

 less. The people do them no injury : on the contrary, 

 they are rather glad to see and encourage them, because 

 they clear the premises of all the offal and filth they can 

 find. In default of other food, they eat frogs, lizards, 

 and snakes. They make their nests among rocks, and the 

 Hottentots assured M. Le Vaillant that they laid three 

 and sometimes four eggs ; but this he had no oppor- 

 tunity of verifying. The eggs are dark red on a ground 

 of white ; and in the third edition of Mr. Hewitson's 

 work on British Birds' eggs, the representation measures 

 two inches and a half in length, by two inches in 

 breadth. 



From the vicinity of Tangiers in North Africa, this 

 species passes over to Portugal ; it is common in Spain, 

 building on high rocks about Aragon. In France it in- 

 habits and breeds on the Alps and Pyrenees, it is found 

 also in Provence. Buffon has recorded its appearance, 

 and received an adult specimen from Norway ; it is not 

 therefore at all surprising that this bird should have been 

 taken in England. The specimen of this Vulture ob- 

 tained from Norway was placed by Buffon in the National 

 Cabinet. Le Vaillant compared his Cape specimens 

 with this example received from Norway, and was con- 

 vinced they were the same species. 



Malta, Sicily, Corfu, and Crete, with other islands of 

 the Mediterranean Sea, are, as might be expected, visited 

 by this Vulture. Bruce, in the appendix to his Travels, 

 says it is frequent in Egypt and about Cairo, where it is 

 called by the Europeans Pharaoh's Hen. In Egypt and 

 Barbary it is called Rachamah. This name, referring to 

 the black and white colours of the adult birds, is said to 



