ORDER ACCIPITRES. 189 



pestiferous exhalations. The fields of Palestine Avould remain 

 uncultivated and abandoned, if these vultures did not clear 

 them of a prodigious quantity of rats and mice, which breed 

 there superabundantly. 



The Ourigourap, described by Le Vaillant among the Afri- 

 can birds, Avhose name signifies white crow in the language of 

 the Great Namaquois, is a bird of this species. The plumage 

 of the one figured by Le Vaillant was not yet perfect : the 

 Hottentots call it hoa-goop, and the Dutch colonists white 

 krai, which words have the signification aforesaid. 



The forehead, circle round the eye, and cheeks as far as the 

 ears, are naked, and of a saffron colour, more lively towards 

 the base of the beak. The throat is furnished with a scanty 

 and fine down, which allows the skin to be seen, which is yel- 

 lowish, wrinkled, and capable of great extension. The top of 

 the head and all the neck are covered with long and slender 

 feathers: the plumage is in general white, tinted with fawn 

 colour : the primaries of the wings are black, the secondaries 

 fawn colour on their external side, and blackish on the interior. 

 The tail is wedged, and of a reddish white. The end of the 

 beak and claws are blackish : the feet of a yellowish brown. 



The young ourigourap has all that portion of the head and 

 neck which is naked in the adult, covered with a grayish down. 

 During the season of reproduction, the beak of the male is 

 redder than during the rest of the year. The number of eggs 

 generally laid, according to the report of the Hottentots, is 

 from three to four. 



The ourigouraps do not appear m flocks, except when 

 attracted and assembled by the immediate expectation of prey ; 

 at other times, they are only found in pairs. The male and 

 female nevar quit each other. They construct their nests in 

 the rocks. 



These vultures are rare at the Cape, but very common in 

 the country of the Little Namaquois. In still greater numbers 

 are they found on the banks of the Orange River, and among 



