22 MONK VULTURE. 



the eyes and on the cheek: the iris of the eye is of 

 a dark hazel colour: it hath a roundish tuft or 

 crest arising from the hinder part of the head : the 

 lower part of the neck is surrounded with long, 

 loose feathers of an ash-colour, which form a kind 

 of ruff, into which the bird draws its head when it 

 reposes or sleeps, so that the head is hardly to be 

 seen: the remaining plumage all over the body 

 &c. is of a dusky brown or blackish colour, except 

 a few of the lesser covert-feathers of the wing, 

 which are tipped with white : the under side of 

 the bird is a shade lighter than the back and wings : 

 its legs and feet are covered with blueish scales : 

 the toes are connected at their bottoms by a skin : 

 the nails or claws are black: the feathers on the 

 thighs are long and loose, and sometimes cover 

 the legs.'* 



This Vulture was said by its keeper to have 

 been brought from the deserts of Arabia. Edwards 

 considered it as a non-descript species. 



The Count de Buffon describes it as thicker and 

 larger than the common Eagle, but rather smaller 

 than the Fulvous Vulture, from which it is easy 

 to distinguish it; its neck being covered with a 

 longer and thicker down, of the same colour with 

 the feathers of the back, and having a white collar, 

 rising on both sides of the head, and extending in 

 two branches to the bottom of the neck, covering 

 on each side a pretty broad black space, under 

 which is a narrow white ring: its feet are also 

 covered with brown feathers, while in the Fulvous 



