12 A Description of the Birds 



v. I, p. 14,9, pi enL. 426. Le Griffon Buff. Ois, v. I, p. 151, 

 tab. 5. Savigny Syst. d. Ois d'Eg. p. 11. Vultur Kolbii 

 Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp. vol. 2, p. 1. Le Chassefiente Le Vaill. 

 Ois d'Afriq. vol. 1, pi 10. 



F. griseus sen albus, capute nuchaque setis subalbidis tectis ; 

 parte inferiore cervices nuda, remigibis primioribus nigris, secun- 

 dariis prcecipue subgriseiis; rectricibus nigris griseo umbratis, 

 rostro, pedibus que lividis ; unguibus nigris ; oculis subrutilis. 



Head and nape covered with dirty short whitish hairs, or 

 bristles ; lower part of cervix bare, and of a bluish colour ; 

 lower part of throat, and middle of breast, covered with 

 short bristly grayish brown feathers ; rest of throat, sides of 

 neck, and upper part of cervix, with fine whitish down, and 

 bristles resembling those of the head. Skin, as seen through 

 these coverings, between livid blue and purple ; lower part of 

 neck behind with a frizzy ruff of short white feathers ; plumage 

 of upper and under parts white, or a pale blossom color ; pri- 

 mary quill feathers black ; secondaries grayish, shaded with 

 black towards their vanes ; tail rounded, and composed of 

 fourteen black feathers, tinted with gray. Bill, legs, and 

 toes, livid blue, with shades of dirty green ; claws black ; 

 eyes light yellowish red ; length from three feet, to three feet 

 six inches ; breadth from tip to tip of wings, about eight feet. 

 The feathers of the back, shoulders, breast, belly and legs, 

 have their tips rounded or semicircular. The male and fe- 

 male are of the same colour, and the latter considerably 

 exceeds the former in size. 



Young. During the first year the prevailing color is dark 

 brown, variegated by narrow longitudinal streaks of light 

 reddish yellow or pale fulvous, one along the centre of each 

 feather ; the head is covered with a dusky white down, as is 

 likewise the upper part of the cervix and sides of the neck ; 

 the throat and centre of the breast are dark brown ; the pri- 

 mary and secondary quills, together with the tail, are brown- 

 ish black ; the bill and legs are blackish ; the eyes are dark 

 brown, and the skin of the head is a dirty sulphur yellow. 

 The ruff on the back of the neck is distinctly marked, and 

 composed of long, narrow, pointed, soft, and silky brown 

 feathers, many of which are re-curved towards the head. 

 After the first moulting, the plumage, which is that of the 

 second year, is considerably lighter in color, and commonly 

 the centres of all the feathers, but particularly of the breast 

 and belly are much less dark than the other parts thereof. 

 From this stage each successive annual change is marked 

 by a diminution of the depth of the color ; yet, nevertheless, 

 t requires several years to pass from the tint of the first 

 feathers to that of the faint issabella hue, which announ- 



