250 African Zoology. 



feathers white towards base, ashy towards points, and crossed 

 by two black bands, the first narrow, irregular, and separating 

 the white and grey colours ; the last broad, and near to the 

 extremity ; tips of all the feathers white. Legs and toes yel- 

 lowish brown ; claws black. Length from bill to point of 

 centre tail-feathers three feet five inches. 



Inhabits Africa, common in South Africa. 



Falco serpentarius, Lin. Vultur serpentarius, Lath. pi. 2. 

 Ophiotheres cristatus, Vieill. Gal. pi. 260. Le Mangeur de 

 Serpents, Levail. pi. 25. Secretary Bird of the Cape Colonists. 



FAM. VULTURIDuE. 



Head, and more or less of neck, divested of feathers j the 

 former covered with down, hair, or fleshy membranes ; cere 

 bald or hairy ; tarsi robust and reticulated ; claws weak ; quills 

 longer than the tail, the first quill the shortest ; the fourth the 

 longest. 



Genus VULTUR. Illiger. 



Bill thick and rather short, deeper than broad, its base covered 

 by a cere ; upper mandible straight, bent towards the point ; un- 

 der mandible straight, rounded, and inclined at the point ; head 

 naked or covered with short down ; nostrils naked, lateral, open- 

 ing diagonally towards the edge of the cere ; legs strong, fur- 

 nished with slightly-bent claws; the middle toe longest, and 

 united with the exterior one at the base ; the third and fourth 

 quill feathers longest. 



Vultur arrianus, Picot La Peyr. Colour brown, inclining 

 to black and sometimes to fulvous ; bill brown-black ; cere 

 violet ; eyes dark brown ; head and nape bare ; skin bluish ; the 

 rest of neck covered with a fulvous down ; lower part of neck 

 with a colleret of long narrow delicate feathers ; tarsi partly 

 feathered ; the bare portion, and the toes, greyish ; claws black. 

 Length three feet six inches. 



Young. The entire of the neck covered with down, and all 

 the feathers of the upper parts terminated by a colour of a 

 lighter tint. 



Inhabits Egypt, India, and Europe. 



Le Yautour noir d' Egypt, Savig. Syst. des Ois. d' Egypte, 

 p. 14. L Arnan, Gerard. Tab, elem. d' Orn. vol. i. p. 11. 

 Cinereous, Ash-coloured, and Bengal Vulture, Latham, Ind. 

 Orn. 



Vultur fulvus, Gmel. (Fulvous Vulture.) Head and nape 

 covered with dirty short whitish hairs, or bristles ; lower 



a ^^^ colour ' lower P art of 



