K3 A Description of the Birds 



Genus. NEOPHRON. San't/iu/. 



Caput anterius nudum ; col- 

 lum plumosum, rostrum per- 

 gracile elongatum, mandibula 

 inferiore deorsum curvata go- 

 nyde nullo. Nares longitudi- 

 nales, ovales antrorsum spec- 

 tantes ; remex, 3'" 1 - longissima, 

 rectrices quatuordecem. 



Anterior part of head naked ; 

 neck feathered ; bill slender 

 elongated ; lower mandible in- 

 clined downwards, without go- 

 nys. Nostrils longitudinal, 

 oval, directed forwards ; third 

 quill feather longest ; tail com- 

 posed of fourteen feathers. 



Vultur Lin. Lath. Gin. Gypaetos Bechstein. Cathartes 

 Meyer, Temminck. Peronopterus Cuvier. Catharista Vieillot. 

 1. NEOPHRON AEQYPTIACUS. Sav. Witte Kraal of the Colonists. 



Vultur Percnopterus Gm. Syst. I. 249, sp. 7. Lath, Vultur 

 Leucocephalus Lath. Ind. orn. v. 1. sp. 2. L'Ourigourap. Vaill. 

 Ois. d' Afrique, pi. 14. Le Perenoptere. Cuv. Reg. Animal, v. 1. 



V. albus ; remigibus nigris ; crista occipitali, cauda albida, 

 cuneata. 



Bill horn coloured ; cere, forehead ; space round the eyes ; 

 cheeks, ears, chin, and part of the throat bare, and of a yellow 

 or saffron color ; eyes light reddish brown ; plumage white, 

 usually tinted with yellow ; feathers of nape narrow, elongated, 

 and pointed ; primary quill feathers black ; secondaries gray- 

 ish black, with the outer vanes more or less broadly margined 

 with white ; tail fan shaped, and pure white ; legs and toes 

 dirty greenish white, sometimes inclined to reddish yellow ; 

 claws dark horn coloured ; length, from one foot ten to two feet 

 two ; expanse of wings about five feet. The female is a little 

 larger than the male, but of the same color. 



Young. The prevailing color varies between a black and a 

 brown. In all the specimens I have yet seen, the feathers of 

 the neck, particularly of the cervical portion, have been of a 

 deep black tinge, and of a long narrow pointed form. Those 

 of the shoulders and interscapular region blackish brown, 

 with, in some instances, chesnut coloured spots towards tips ; 

 and in others, large whitish or grayish red blotches. The 

 back and rump feathers are usually of a lighter tint than the 

 parts just mentioned, and the breast and belly vary, being 

 brown, rufous brown, or blackish brown in different speci- 

 mens. The crown of the head, and the skin and upper part of 

 the breast, when the bird has just acquired its feathers, are 

 covered with a dirty whitish down, and that becomes more or 

 less interspersed after a few weeks with black hairy feathers 

 The bare parts of the head are a livid red, varying in many 

 places to a fine yellow ; the cere is yellowish ; the upper man- 

 dible is livid horn coloured, and the lower greenish yellow ; 

 the tarsi and toes are bluish yellow ; the claws black, and the 

 eyes dark brown. 

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