VULTURID.E. 145 



Facial disk ill-defined ; (uftless ; no operculum. 



Above greyish brown, spotted with white ; below white, much streaked 

 with brown ; iris yellow ; toes without feathers, but covered with bristles. 

 Length 7^-8 inches. 



174. Carine glaux, Savigny. Southern Little Owl. 



This bird, which is only a light-coloured race of the last, does 

 not appear to be met with in the immediate vicinity of Tangier, 

 the only specimens I have seen having been obtained three or 

 four days' journey on the way to Fez. The Little Owl of Tangier 

 is undoubtedly C. nociua. 



Resembles Little Owl, except is isabelline or pale fawn-colour where dark 

 brown in that bird. 



Order ACCIPITRES. Family VULTURID^l. 



175. Vultur monachus, Linnaeus. The Black or Cinereous 

 Vulture. 



Spanish. Buitre negro. 



This Vulture is mentioned by Favier as having once occurred 

 near Tangier ; and there is a specimen in the Norwich Museum 

 from that locality, perhaps the identical bird. They are probably 

 not so rare in Morocco as Favier implies. On the Spanish side 

 of the Straits they are not often to be seen, and generally alone 

 in winter and early spring. 



They are more common near Seville than Gibraltar. Some 

 breed in Andalucia, as I discovered one nest by watching the 

 birds building or, rather, repairing it ; for on examination it 

 appeared to be an old nest, probably a Stork's, and was a vast 

 pile of sticks placed on a half-decayed alder tree, about fifteen 

 feet from the ground, in the midst of the thick jungle of the Soto 

 Malabrigo, nearCasas Viejas. This place is almost impenetrable, 

 surrounded by open marsh, and is formed of a mass of huge 

 tussocks placed far apart, on which grow wide-spreading sallows 



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