318 ON SAFARI 



BIRDS OF PREY 



VbLTURES 



Five species inhabit East Africa, Of these, two are small, 

 Neophron-like ; while of the three larger species, one — the white- 

 headed — is rarely met with. Thus, of the swarms of great 

 carrion-vultures that promptly assemble at every kill, all belong 

 to the two species first below named — 



1. African Griffon — Pseiidogyps africanus. A huge bare- 



necked species, bigger and darker in colour than the 

 European Griffon, but showing conspicuously great 

 patches of white on its lower plumage. Swarms. 



2. Eared, or Black Vulture — Otogtjps atiriciolaris. Much less 



numerous, though some may always be distinguished 

 amidst the herd around a "kill" by their uniformly 

 darker colour and by the great red lobes, or wattles, on 

 their ears. 



3. Hooded, or White-headed Vulture — Lo2')Tiogyps occipitalis. 



Rare, as stated above. 



[Note, that though I am here forced to use three separate 

 generic titles for the same number of species — all great carrion- 

 vultures, obviously belonging to a single family — I only do so 

 under protest. I hold that such ultra-refinement of definition 

 is not only unnecessary, but actually prejudicial to the general 

 understanding of ornithology.] 



The two smaller Ea.st-African Vultures are clearly Neo- 

 phrons; but the more abundant by far of the two differs essen- 

 tially from the well-known Egyptian Vulture of Europe (A. p)crc- 

 nopterus) in that its tail is short and square, instead of long and 

 cuneate ; also in that its plumage remains dark brown through- 

 out life ; whereas in the other, the plumage — though dark during 

 immaturity — becomes pure white with black wing-points when 

 adult. In Africa, the square or cuneate tail will always serve to 

 distinguish the two species, old or young. 



4. White Egyptian Vulture — Neophron pcvcnoptcrus. Com- 



paratively scarce, though least so in mountain-regions. 

 The only example actually handled — an adult, shot at 



