22 CLASS AVES. 



bulging at the bottom of the neck ; but their head is 

 entirely covered with feathers. Their generic charac- 

 ters consist in a very strong beak, straight, bent at the 

 end, convex at the bend ; in nostrils covered with 

 stiff hairs, directed forward, and in a pencil of similar 

 hairs on the beak. Their tarsi are very short, and 

 feathered to the toes ; their wings very long, and 

 the third quill is the longest of all. 



The Bearded Vulture ^ Lath., or Vulture Eagle. {Vult. 

 barbatus,lAn.) {Falco barbatus, Gm.)'E,dw. \0b. Nisser, 

 Bruce. Gypatte of the Alps, Daud. ii. pi. 10. 



The largest of the birds of prey of the old world, of 

 which it inhabits, but in small numbers, all the high 

 chains of mountains. It builds in steep rocks ; attacks 

 lambs, goats, the chamois, and even, as it is said, 

 man while sleeping ; and it is pretended that it has 

 carried off children. It does not, however, refuse 

 dead flesh. About four feet long, and nine or ten 

 feet (French) in expanse of wings. Its back is black- 

 ish, with a white line down the middle of each feather ; 

 the neck and upper part of the body is bright yel- 

 low ; a black band surrounds the head. There are 

 specimens with the neck and chest more or less 

 brown, but these appear to be young. 



When it is F. niger of Gmelin. It is found in India. 



The Golden Vulture of Willoughby, V. aureus, Bris. 



Falco magus, Gm., of Persia, 

 May probably be distinct. Savigny has indicated a 

 species under the name of Phene gigantea. 



