24 FULVOUS, OR GRIFFIN VULTURE. 



THE name of SOCIABLE VULTURE, which has been bestowed upon the bird which is 

 represented in the illustration, is supposed to be founded upon an error of observation. 



Le Vaillant, who has given a somewhat detailed description of this species, found 

 several of the nests in close proximity, and supposed from that circumstance that 

 this Vulture was a gregarious bird. It seems, however, from more recent observation, 

 that the proximity of these nests was merely accidental, and that although several nests 

 may have been found near each other, they were not all inhabited simultaneously. 

 It is the habit of many birds to build a new nest close to a deserted one, and such seems 

 to have been the case with the Sociable Vulture. In their character they are anything 

 but social, for it is but seldom that more than three or four of these birds can be 

 seen together, and even in that case, they are drawn together not by any feeling of 

 community, but by the attraction of a dead animal on which they are glad to feed, 

 whether in company or alone. 



The Sociable Vulture is a handsome and a large bird. Its length is about four feet^ 

 and the measurement of its expanded wings is rather more than ten feet. The general 

 colour of its feathers is black-brown, from which circumstance it is called by the colonists 

 the Black Carrion Bird. The ruff is nearly black, and the feathers of the chest and 

 abdomen are remarkable for their length and narrowness. The naked parts of the head 

 and neck are red, and the skin of the sides of the face droops in folds down the neck. 

 This bird is a native of Southern Africa, and by the Hottentots is called T'Ghaip, the "T" 

 representing one of those strange clicking sounds which play so important a part in the 

 Hottentot language. 



A FINE example of the genus Otogyps is also found in the PONDICHERRY VULTURE, a 

 bird which, as its name imports, is an inhabitant of India. 



This is not quite so large a bird as the preceding, its length scarcely exceeding three 

 feet. The generic term, Otogyps, which is given to this species and to the sociable Vultures, 

 is of Greek origin, denoting Eared Vulture, and alludes to the folds of skin which arise 

 below the ears and fall for some inches along the sides of the neck. The word " calvus" is 

 Latin, and signifies bald, in allusion to the featherless condition of the flat and broad 

 head of the Pondicherry Vulture. It is a tolerably common bird, but is never seen 

 in great numbers together, as it is not at all sociable in its habits, and associates only 

 in pairs. 



The general colour of the plumage is a blackish-brown, the naked portions of the head 

 and neck are flesh-coloured, and the chest is remarkable for a bunch or tuft of white downy 

 feathers, which marks the position of the crop. 



The FULVOUS, or GRIFFIN VULTURE, is one of the most familiar of these useful birds, 

 being spread widely over nearly the whole of the Old World, and found in very many 

 portions of Europe, Asia, and Africa. 



It is one of the large Vultures, measuring four feet in length, and its expanse of wing 

 being exceedingly wide. Like many of its relations, it is a high-roving bird, loving to 

 rise out of the ken of ordinary eyes, and from that vast elevation to view the panorama 

 which lies beneath its gaze ; not, however, for the purpose of admiring the beauty of the 

 prospect, but for the more sensual object of seeking for food. "Whenever it has discovered 

 a dead or dying animal, the Vulture takes its stand on some adjoining tree or rock, and 

 there patiently awaits the time when decomposition shall render the skin sufficiently soft 

 to permit the entrance of the eager beak. As soon as its olfactory organs tell of that 

 desired change, the Vulture descends upon its prey, and will not retire until it is so gorged 

 with food that it can hardly stir. If it be suddenly attacked while in this condition, it 

 can easily be overtaken and killed ; but if a pause of a few minutes only be allowed, the 

 bird ejects by a spasmodic effort the load of food which it has taken into its interior, and 

 is then ready for flight. 



A controversy has long raged concerning the manner in which the Vulture obtains 

 knowledge of the presence of food. Some naturalists assert that the wonderful powers of 

 food-finding which are possessed by the Vulture are owing wholly to the eyes, while others 

 as warmly attribute to the nose this curious capability Others agai a, desirous of steering a 



