ACCIPITRES. cn | 
Vult. perenoptenus, L.; V.leucocephalus and V. fuscus, Gm. Enl. 
407 and 429; Vieillot, Galer. 2; Naum. pl. 3; Vult. de Gingi, 
Sonn. and Daud.; Origourap, Vaill. Afr. 14; Rachamah, Bruce; 
Pharaoh's Bird, in Egypt. As large as a crow; throat and cheeks 
naked; the adult male white, quills of the wings black; the young 
and the female brown. ‘This bird is found throughout the whole of 
the eastern continent, and is particularly common in warm countries, 
where it is an excellent scavenger, purifying them from carrion, &c. 
It follows the caravans in the desert to devour all that dies. The 
antient Egyptians held it in respect on account of the services it 
renders to the country, and frequently sculptured it on their monu- 
ments. Even at the present day it is exempt from injury, and pious 
Mussulmen sometimes bequeath sums of money for the maintenance 
of a certain number. 
V. jota, Bonap.: Vieillot, Am. Sept. pl. 1. (The Urubu.) Of 
the size and form of the preceding; the bill stronger; the whole 
body of a brilliant black; the entire head naked. Common in all 
the hot and temperate parts of America, where it renders similar 
services as the Percnopterus in the old continent; flocking round 
dead bodies, and consuming every kind of filth.* 
Gyrartos, Storr.—PHeENE, Savigny. 
The Griffins, placed by Gmelin in the genus Falco, are more nearly 
alied to the Vultures in their habits and conformation; their eyes are 
even with the head; their talons proportionably weak; wings half extend- 
ed when at rest; the crop, when full, projecting at the bottom of the 
neck; but their head is completely covered with feathers. Their dis- 
tinguishing characters consist in a very strong, straight bill, hooked at 
the end, and inflated on the curve; nostrils covered by stiff hairs, directed 
forwards, and in a pencil of similar hairs under the beak; their tarsi short 
and feathered to the toes; their wings long, the third quill being the 
longest. 
Vult. barbarus and Falco barbatus, Gm. Pl. Col. 431; Edw. 
106; Vieillot, Gal. pl. 8; Nauman, pl. 4 and 5; Nisser of Bruce, 
Abyss. pl. 31. (The Lemmer-geyer, or the Lambs’ Vulture). The 
largest bird of prey belonging to the eastern continent, inhabiting 
the high chains of mountains, but not very common. It builds its 
nest on inaccessible acclivities, attacks lambs, goats, the chamois, 
and, as. it is said, even man, when it finds him asleep; it is as- 
serted that children have been carried away by it. Its usual mode 
of attack is to force its prey from some precipice, which it then 
devours, being killed and mangled by the fall. It does not, how- 
ever, reject dead bodies. Its length is nearly four feet, the distance 
from the tip of one wing to that of the other being from nine to ten. 
The mantle is blackish, with a white line on the middle of each 
feather; the neck, and all the under part of the body are of a light 
and brilliant fawn-colour; a black band surrounds the head. The 
* This bird has been confounded for a long time with the aura, but its bill is much 
more slender. Add the Catharte moine, P|. Col, 222. 
