VULTURID/E. 



ACCIPITRES. 



YULTURIDJS. 



NEOPHRON PERCNOPTERUS (Linnaeus*). 

 THE EGYPTIAN VULTUKE. 



Neophron percnopterus. 



NEOPHRON, Savigny\. Beak straight, slender, elongated, rounded above, 

 encircled at the base with a naked cere, which extends more than half the length 

 of the beak : upper mandible with straight edges, hooked at the tip ; under 

 mandible blunt, and shorter than the upper. Nostrils, near the middle of the 

 beak, elongated, longitudinal. Head and neck partly bare of feathers. Wings 

 long, rather pointed ; the third quill-feather the longest. Legs of moderate 

 strength and length ; tarsi reticulated ; feet with four toes, three before, one 

 behind ; anterior toes united at the base. Tail-feathers fourteen. 



Two examples of this Vulture were seen on the shores of 

 the Bristol Channel, and one of them, now in the possession 

 of the Rev. John Matthew, of Kilve, in Somersetshire, was 

 shot near that place in October, 1825. " When first dis- 

 covered, it was feeding upon the carcass of a dead sheep, and 



* Vultur percnopterus, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 123 (1766). 

 t Systerne des Oiseaux de I'lSgypte et de la Syrie, p. 8 (1810). 



