182 BIRDS. RAPACES, 



top of the head around the eyes and ears and the fore part of the 

 neck naked and reddish ; occiput, hind part of the neck, and crop 

 covered with short ashy down ; tarsi feathered a little below the 

 knee; feet yellowish. Two feet three inches long. Inhabits 

 western coast of Africa Shaw, vii. pi. 7, 8, 9. 



V. Ponticerianus, Lath. Bill short and much hooked, with its base 

 covered by a naked skin; feet short and strong, the nails crooked; 

 head and neck naked, or covered in part by short down ; a thin 

 naked red-coloured membrane on the neck; head, neck, and breast 

 flesh-coloured ; back, belly, wings, and tail black ; iris red ; bill 

 black ; feet yellowish. Inhabits India. Size of a large goose. 

 Shaw, vii. pi. 10. 



V. Indicus, Lath. Back brownish-coloured, terminated by a band 

 of a clearer colour ; large feathers of the wing and tail black ; 

 head covered with a tuft resembling hair ; neck with little tufts 

 at small distances ; feathers of the breast short, like hair ; iris 

 red ; feet and bill black. Inhabits India. Size of a goose. 

 Shaw, vii. 26. 



Gen. 2. CATHARTES, Illiger, Tern. Vultur, Lin. 



Beak long, compressed, straight, bent towards the point ; cere 

 naked, covering more than half of the beak ; upper mandible 

 tumid towards the point ; head oblong, naked, as well as the 

 upper part of the neck ; nostrils in the middle of the bill, 

 near the ridge of the upper mandible, longitudinally cleft, 

 broad, sometimes surmounted by fleshy appendages; legs with 

 tarsus naked, more or less slender ; middle toe long, and 

 united to the exterior one at the base. 



C. percnopterus^ Tern. (Vullur percnopterus, Lin.) The Egyptian 

 Vulture. Head and fore part of the neck covered by a naked 

 skin of a livid yellow colour ; plumage white, except the large 

 feathers of the wings, which are black ; feathers of the occiput 

 long and slender ; the cere and bill orange ; iris yellow ; feet of 

 a livid yellow, claws black, tail raised. Young specimens of a 

 deep brown variegated by yellowish brown spots ; the cere and 

 feet of a gray ash-colour. About two feet and a-half long. In- 

 habits the Pyrenees, Switzerland, and Africa. Tern. 9. 



V. leucocephalus, Lath. ; Vautour blanc, Buff. ; Rachavnach, Bruce; Vautour 

 d'Egypte, Son.; Percnopterus, Cuv. ; the Ash-coloured and Alpine Vulture of 

 Latham. The young, V. fuscus, Gmel. ; Le Vautour de Malte, Buff. ; Mai- 

 tese Vulture, Lath. 



These birds feed chiefly on carrion and filth, and their use in removing these offensive 

 objects and destroying reptiles occasions their being protected in some countries of 

 the east, particularly in Egypt, where they were anciently held in such veneration, 

 that any person who destroyed them was punished with death. At this day immense 

 flocks of them are found ;n all the principal towns of Egypt, Syria, and Persia, ming- 

 ling with other animals of similar propensities. They feed with the greatest fami- 

 larity even in the streets of the most populous towns. At Cairo their skins are sold, 

 and converted into dresses. 



