ORDER ACCIPITRE3. 161 



led him into a mistake when he imagined the golden and black 

 vulture to be simple varieties of the fulvous, when in reality 

 they are distinct species. 



The fulvous vulture, which M. Vieillot calls " le griffon,'' is 

 about three feet and a half in total length, and eight from the 

 tip of one wing to that of the other. Its head is covered with 

 small white and slender feathers ; but those of the occiput and 

 nape form a tuft about an inch long. The neck is almost 

 naked : the short and scanty down with which it is sprinkled 

 does not prevent the brown and bluish tints of the skin from 

 being visible. At the bottom of the neck some long feathers 

 are arranged like a ruff of a dazzling white. There is a large 

 hollow furnished with hairs at the top of the stomach : this is 

 the place of the crop. But notwithstanding this external 

 cavity, there is a bump internally, and a great enlargement in 

 this part of the oesophagus, which raises the skin of the external 

 hollow, and fills it out when the bird has taken plenty of food. 

 The feathers of the body are of a reddish-gray; the quill- 

 feathers of the wings and tail are black ; the beak blackish, 

 with some bluish in the middle ; the iris of a fine orange ; the 

 feet and claws are blackish. 



The plumage of this vulture varies with age. In the first 

 youth the body is fawn-colour ; in the second and third year, 

 varied with gray and fawn, more or less deep above. In a 

 more advanced age, it is totally of a beautiful ash-colour, 

 nearly blue. 



This species, which is seen in numerous flocks on the Alps 

 and Pyrenees, abandons them in winter. It appears also to 

 be considerably spread in Africa, since Le Vaillant mentions 

 having seen it at the Cape, on the Table Mountain, Avhich it 

 never quits except during violent storms from the south-east. 

 Sonnini has also met with it in Egypt and the Levant, where 

 the Turks and Greeks hold its fat in high estimation. They 

 use it as a topical application in rheumatic cases. Its name 

 in modern Greek is (jKavia. That o( percnoptere, derived from 



Vol. VI. M 



