486 Captain H. Lynes — Bird-notes 



very familiar in their breediug-b aunts ; but at Arcos, a 

 small town crowded on a wedge-shaped hill that stands out 

 prominently among the " lowlands/' there has existed from 

 time unrecorded a large breeding colony of Griffons, the 

 nests being in the perpendicular sides of the wedge. From 

 the outermost houses, whose " parterres " are on the very 

 edge of the cliff, there issues a frequent cascade of house- 

 refuse, Avhich, in its descent, flies past the very caves and 

 ledges occupied by the Vultures. Not long ago a fellow- 

 countrvnian who had spent a night at the Fonda complained 

 that he had been kept awake by the " snoring of the 

 Vultures." 



The nests themselves were inaccessible ■without a rope, 

 but, had it been otherwise, they would probably have 

 remained undisturbed. The average hatching-time in our 

 season was the middle of March, although we found one 

 almost fresh egg on April 9th, a date, of course, abnormally 

 late. 



Sierra Nevada. — A few Griff'ons were evidently breeding 

 in the lower gorges of the Monachil (3500 ft.), but we 

 never saw them higher *. 



After the Serrania de Ronda, Nevada seemed to us almost 

 " Vultureless." 



Neophron percnopterus. Egyptian Vulture. 



San Cristobal. — The Neophron seemed to arrive in the 

 'Rowlands'' near Jerez about JSIarch 19th f, on Avhich date 

 some twenty birds were seen sitting on ploughed land lying 

 among groves of scattered ilex-trees. The foregoing remarks 

 on the breeding distribution of the Griifon apply equally to 

 this species : nearly all the colonies of the former species had 

 a few pairs of the Neophron hanging about their outskirts, 

 but the latter 's less gregarious propensities (seldom more 



* [A single Griftbn passed over me at 6500 or 7000 ft., evidently 

 travelling ; a few minutes later a Lammergeier followed on the same 

 course. — A. C] 



')" [in other years I havenoticed the Neophron in the " lowlands " (Goto 

 Donana) as early as February 28fh. — A. C] 



