1920.] South African Accipilres. 413 



of rats aiul mice, with occasionally the remains of lizards 

 and snakes. Amongst those I examined there were no 

 signs of feathers. As to its supposed snake-killing habits, 

 I am firmly of tlie opinion that it never goes out of its wny 

 to look for snakes ; but it would certainly attack and kill 

 any it came across, as it would almost any other living 

 thing — from beetles, termites, and grasshoppers, to mammals 

 as large as a young hare. I have only found one nest ; this 

 was situated in the main fork of a small black wattle-tree 

 growing in a paddock on a farm in East Griqualand. 

 It was a huge mass of sticks and grass, and contained 

 one young bird nearly fledged ; the remains of another 

 lay on the ground under the nest. It is a curious fact 

 that, in this and some of the other large Birds of Prey, 

 although the, full complement of eggs is two, and two 

 young are usually hatched, rarely more than one reaches 

 maturity — either the other dies in infancy, or else it is 

 pushed out of the nest by its parents or its fellow. 



I have nothing to add to the description of plumages 

 given by Sclater, except to note that the iris in the young 

 bird is usually very dark brown, and the bill dark brown 

 or black, not whitish grey as in the adult. The white 

 upper tail-coverts are also usually more or less barred 

 with black. 



2. Lophogyps occipitalis (Burch.). White-headed Vulture. 



I have only met with this Vulture in the northern por- 

 tions of the South-West Protectorate and Ovamboland, but 

 in the latter country it was the only species of Vulture 

 T noticed. I usually saw it in pairs, but after a fight with 

 the natives in Ovamboland, when there were numerous dead 

 horses lying about, a good number collected to feed on the 

 carcasses, together with Kites and Pied Crows. 



As regards plumages, I should think that Selater's 

 description of the juvenile plumage was taken from 

 a bird in change to maturity. Quite young specimens 

 which I have seen were very dark brown everywhere, 

 including the downv feathers on the head. Tliere is at 



