10 



BRITISH BIRDS. 



friend Mr. Howard Saunders tells me that in Southern Spain there is a 

 colony of Griffon Vultures whose eggs are always more or less spotted 

 and streaked. Griffon Vultures' eggs vary from 3'85 to 3'5 inches in length, 

 and from 2'9 to 2'7 inches in breadth. Eggs of the Black Vulture ( Vul- 

 tur cinereus), although, as a rule, richly marked, sometimes very closely 

 resemble those of the Griffon Vulture. It is then impossible to separate 

 the eggs of the two species with certainty, although in the field confusion 

 can never arise; for the Black Vulture invariably nests in trees, and the 

 Griffon just as invariably on rocks. 



The Griffon Vulture is a buffish-brown bird with nearly black wings 

 and tail, and with the head and neck covered with white down. The bill 

 is pale brown and the legs lead-colour ; not vice versa, as is erroneously 

 given in Dresser's ' Birds of Europe.' 



The young birds, when newly hatched, are covered with white down. 



NEST OF GRIFFON VULTURE. 



