THE BEARDED VULTURE. 181 



indeed asserts that he had seen an individual in Dal- 

 matia, the expanded wings ot" which measured twelve 

 feet ; and the breadth of another, killed in the French 

 expedition to Egypt, and measured in the presence of 

 MM. Monge and Berthollet, is said by M. Larrey to 

 have exceeded fourteen Parisian, or upwards of fifteen 

 English, feet. In the first of these instances there is 

 probably little exaggeration ; but with respect to the 

 last, we cannot help suspecting the existence of an 

 accidental error in the hasty note on which the state- 

 ment is founded. M. Savigny, on the other hand, 

 relying implicitly on the information furnished by his 

 colleagues, regards the bird seen by them as the type 

 of a new species, to which he gives the appropriate 

 epithet of giganteus. The male is smaller than the 

 female, but not, as is usual among the Falconidae, to 

 the extent of a third of her size. 



The general colour of the upper part of this remark- 

 able bird is a dull brown with a mixture of gray; its 

 wings and tail are of a grayish ash colour ; the upper 

 part of its head is of a diity white ; a black band 

 extends backwards from the base of the beak across 

 the eye, and joins a narrower stripe of the same that 

 passes upwards to unite with its fellow on the back of 

 the head ; and the neck, breast, and under parts are 

 white with a shade of reddish brown or orange, which 

 is deeper on the breast and throat, and gradually be- 

 comes less distinct on the abdomen and legs. For the 

 first two years, the young birds are distinguished by 

 the dusky brown of their head and neck ; the mottled 

 gray of their under surfaces, the large white spots, or 

 spots of a lighter shade, scattered over their back and 

 wings ; and the dusky black of their quill-feathers. 

 Their iris is at first brown, and their toes of a livid 

 colour ; but as they advance in age the former becomes 



