GRIFFOX VULTURE. 5 



its breeding-quarters it may almost be considered sedentary. The Griffon 

 Vulture has t\vo near allies ; indeed it is doubtful whether these birds are 

 deserving: of even subspecific rank. Gyps fulvescens is the Indian race, 

 differing from the Griffon in being of a rich ruddy bay colour, with con- 

 spicuous narrow pale median stripes to the feathers of the underparts, 

 and in having a gflort stout bill. In South Africa it is replaced by Gyps 

 kolbi (Daud.), said to be slightly smaller in size, and differing in its light 

 and almost uniform coloration, and which inhabits South Africa to the 

 Zambesi on the east, and to Damara Land on the west coast, but more 

 sparingly in the latter country (cf. Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. i. p. 8). 

 This bird is again closely related to the Gyps himalayensis of North India 

 and Turkestan, a larger bird and remarkable for its brown-coloured young. 

 I first made the acquaintance of the Griffon Vultures in the rock-bound 

 valley to the east of Smyrna, and afterwards in the Parnassus, and at 

 Missolonghi I saw so much of them that I began to look upon them as very 

 common birds ; nevertheless when I renewed my acquaintance with them 

 last spring in the Pyrenees they interested me as much as if I had never 

 seen them before. In Greece and Asia Minor they are so abundant that 

 one naturally wonders where they all find food. Upon the ledges of the 

 limestone cliffs which guard the vines and olives below, no doubt the grass 

 is rich and tempting, and now and then a sheep or a goat may slip and 

 find an untimely end on the broken rocks half concealed by the oaks, the 

 oleanders, the roses, and the clematis which adorn the borderland be- 

 tween the precipices and cultivation. Such an accident is a windfall for 

 the Griffon and Egyptian Vultures, one of whom is almost sure to have 

 witnessed it, and by his eager flight to have betrayed the prize to an ever- 

 increasing circle of hungry birds, always on the qui vive to discover a meal, 

 or a fellow Vulture who knows or has a suspicion of one. As the camel 

 can drink enough to last him for many days, the Griffon Vultures seem 

 able to eat enormously at a meal, and to be able to go for a long time 

 without a fresh supply. "NVhen they have gorged themselves they will sit 

 motionless for hours on some commanding crag ; otherwise they are gene- 

 rally on the wing, sailing round and round in majestic curves, seldom 

 coming within range of gunshot, unless you suddenly meet them wheeling 

 round the corner of a crag, or occupied upon the dead body of a mule or 

 a camel. The flight of the Griffon Vultures is very majestic; they float 

 and soar without apparent effort, as if they disdained to flap a wing, 

 wheeling round and round in grand sweeps. The wings are very broad ; 

 and each quill is conspicuously displayed at the extremities, which are 

 curved upwards by the resistance of the air. The tail is very short. As the 

 bird flies or, rather, floats, the fore half of the upper parts are grey and the 

 hind half black. The nature of their food makes them, in a certain sense, 

 gregarious ; but even when twenty or thirty can be seen on the wing toge- 



