RAPTORES. NEOPHRON. 3 



phus^ as possessing the peculiar features of the family in the 

 highest degree, are justly considered its typical representa- 

 tives ; the other three are aberrant, viz. the genera Neophron, 

 Cathartes, and Gypaetos, in which a deviation of structure is 

 perceptible, and which serve, from the affinities they exhibit, 

 not only to complete the circle of their own family, but to 

 connect it with those belonging to other orders of the class. 



Genus NEOPHRON (Savig.) NEOPHRON. 



GENERIC CHARACTERS. 



Bill elongated, slender, strait ; the upper mandible covered 

 with a cere for half its length, and with a distinct hooked 

 dertrum or tip. The lower mandible curving downwards at 

 the point, with no apparent gonys or angle. Nostrils longitu- 

 dinal, lateral, directed forwards, and placed near to the cul- 

 men of the bill. Anterior part of the head and the face 

 naked ; the neck covered with acuminate feathers. Wings 

 ample, the third quill-feather being the longest. Tail of 

 fourteen feathers. Legs of mean strength and length ; the 

 tarsi reticulated. Feet with four toes ; three before, and one 

 behind. The front toes united at the base. Claws strong, 

 slightly hooked, and blunt. Under surface of the toes sca- 

 brous. 



This genus, which was first established by Savigny, has 

 since been adopted by Mr Vigors, who makes it one of the 

 live forms recognisable in the family of the Vulturida. It 

 belongs to the aberrant division, or that in which the groups 

 indicate a modification of those peculiar characters that dis- 

 tinguish the typical divisions, represented (as I have before 

 stated) by genus Vultur and genus Sarcoramphus. Its 

 structure, according to the affinities displayed, seems inter- 

 mediate between the genus Gypaetos, of which the Vultur 

 harhaUis of authors is the type, (and which more imme- 

 diately connects the Vulturidae with the succeeding family of 



