2 MH. E. B. SHABPE ON THE 



points seem to me to be of the first importance ; and as further 

 characters can be found for tbe separation of the Owls from the 

 other birds of prey, it seems to me natural to consider tlie Ospreys 

 as Accipitres with an owl-like structure and the habits of Eishing 

 Eagles ; and thus they would naturally occupy an intermediate 

 position between the Owls and the great mass of the diurnal birds 

 of prey. 



The first of my suborders, the Ealcones, is much the largest of 

 the three, and may be divided into two primary groups — Vultures 

 (Vulturidae) and Hawks (Falconidae). The former have never any 

 trite feathers on the crown of the head, this part being either quite 

 bare or covered with silky down. In habits, the American Vul- 

 tures so closely resemble those of the Old "World, that I cannot 

 bring myself to consider them anything but Vultures, though ad- 

 mitting that they are very aberrant in their structure. I there- 

 fore still keep them in the family Vulturidse, and divide these 

 birds into two subfamilies, one of them (Vulturinse) containing the 

 Old-world vultures, and the other (Sarcorhamphinse) containing 

 the American species. It is with the geographical range of these 

 birds that we now propose to deal. 



1. VULTUE MONACHUS. (Map I.) 



V. MONACHUS, L. ; Sliarpe, Cat. B. i. p. 3. 



For the distribution of the Cinereous Vulture see Dresser's 

 'Birds of Europe ' (pt. xiii.); but observe that the bird does not 

 visit West Africa as there stated. The vulture mentioned by 

 Eraser under the name of V. monachus is the small form of African 

 Hooded Vulture, Neophron monachus (Temminck), peculiar to the 

 Ethiopian region, into the north-eastern portion of which alone 

 the present species ranges. 



Pal^arctic Region. 



France. Occurs accidentally in Provence, Languedoc, and Dauphine 

 {DeglandSf Gerbe); inhabits the Spanish Pyrenees as well as the French, 

 where it arrives in June, departing in October. It is not, however, un- 

 common on a fine winter day to see them appear in the neighbourhood of 

 Bagneres-de-Bigorre, which fact seems to indicate that at least some indi- 

 viduals winter, if not in the French, at any rate in the Spanish Pyrenees. 

 The localities which it seems to prefer in the western chain of these moun- 

 tains are, according to M. Darracq, Mounts Orsamendi, Mousson, Rei- 



boura. La Rhum, and especially the Aldules A large band of them 



passed near Angers in October 1839, computed to number 100 individuals. 



