THE VULTURES. 47 



3. V. fttlvtis. The pterylosis agrees exactly with that of V. yalericulatus, even in the light 

 plumage of the head and upper neck, formed of bristly feathers, and afterwards becoming downy. 

 The true tracts of the neck only commence in the ruff, and those of the breast are separated from 

 them by a narrow space. In no part can I find anything peculiar; even the lumbar tract 

 is present. The number of remiges is thirty-six ; the first five have an emargination of both the 

 outer and inner vanes, extending very far down, which becomes gradually less marked from the 

 first primary, and is precisely similar to that in V. indicns. In length the first is equal to the 

 seventh, the second to the fifth, and the third is somewhat shorter than the fourth, which is the 

 longest. In this species, also, the primaries and the entire hand lay themselves beneath the arm- 

 feathers, and are concealed by these during repose, so that, as the last remiges of the arm are very 

 long, only about an inch of the apex of the primaries continues visible. Tail-feathers very distinctly 

 fourteen. Oil-gland covered with down, and consequently scarcely perceptible externally ; its 

 apex short and broad, with the ordinary circlet of feathers. Two distinct orifices at its 

 extremity. 



b. JEGYPius, Savigny. 

 (LARGE-HEADED VULTURES.) 



With a larger head, usually clothed above with bristly feathers ; circular, open nostrils ; a 

 wide auditory aperture ; a smooth, fleshy tongue, thicker and raised at the margin ; and twelve 

 tail-featliers. 



Of the members of this section I have examined V. cinereus (s. arrianus, Temm.), V. pondi- 

 ccrianns, and V. aiiyolemis, Lath. ; of the two latter only the skin, and tliis in the stuffed 

 condition. The complete absence of the lumbar tract seems to be common to all of them, and 

 to constitute their chief pterylographic character. Not less characteristic is the narrower form 

 of the dorsal portion of the spinal tract, which moreover does not extend forward between the 

 arms of the furcate scapular portion, but is iinited to the extremities of the branches of the fork 

 by two divergent rows of single feathers. In these two particulars these Vultures agree exactly 

 with Gypaetos. 



1. V. cinereus. Head with peculiar, scattered contour-feathers, running out at the extremities 

 of the barbs in the form of capillary, setiform points. On the occiput these feathers are longer, 

 and the main shaft with its barbs is curved upward, producing an appearance as if each feather 

 were reversed, and the aftershaft, which is scarcely one third of the size of the main 

 shaft, inserted on the outer surface. Auditory aperture surrounded by a ring of feathers, and 

 above it a naked streak, which is directed towards the equally naked nape. Sides of the head 

 also perfectly naked. The throat, or space between the rami of the lower jaw, is clothed with 

 long, narrow, bristle-like contour-feathers, which extend anteriorly as far as the jugular tract, and 

 form with this a connected whole. The latter runs down the fore part of the neck, gradually 

 becoming broader, and forms, beneath, the shield peculiar to all Vultures, which is here separated 

 from the two inferior tracts by a space, but is less strongly marked than in Gyps. The spinal 

 tract, commences higher up, very little behind the naked nape, and is equally broad from the 

 first. Where it passes on to the trunk, it divides into two less divergent branches, which, as has 



