10 CINEREOUS VULTURE. 
The following is from notes kindly lent me by Mr. Savile Reid, 
R.E., stationed at Gibraltar:— "May 20, 1873. Jose came in this 
morning with a fine young Cinereous Vulture, from the hills beyond 
Los Barrios; it was about the size of a goose; the quills and tail 
feathers only a few inches long, and the ruff or frill small, though 
clearly defined. I made him a nest of straw in the corner of a spare 
room, where he lay perfectly at ease, and devoured about half a 
pound of flamingo with considerable gusto! He gave out a very faint 
and pleasant odour of musk, like the old birds and the eggs, and 
showed himself altogether a most aristocratic bird for a Vulture. I 
hope to bring him up to maturity, and find him an interesting pet." 
This hope was unfortunately not realized, as the poor bird broke 
its leg and was destroyed. It is worthy of note that he took thirty 
drops of Prussic acid without effect. 
It does not appear to be either a cowardly or a stupid bird. M. 
Degland mentions an instance in which one in confinement answered 
to the voice of its master, and defended itself with courage against 
some small dogs which tried to bite it. M. Bouteille also, in a note 
to his "Ornithology of the Dauphine," relates an instance of one of 
these birds, which in confinement became so familiar as to call for 
its food. It however once escaped into his establishment and seriously 
wounded two men. 
I have a series of twelve eggs of this bird from the Dobrudsha 
in my collection. They are not so highly coloured as some of those 
brought over by Lord Lilford and Mr. Howard Saunders from Spain. 
They vary in size from three inches and eight tenths by two inches 
and eight tenths, to three inches and three tenths by two inches and 
eight tenths. 
I figure tw r o specimens from my collection which will give a correct 
idea of the variations in this egg. The smallest in my collection is 
white, thinly but distinctly spotted with dark purple. 
The bird has been well figured in most works on the Birds of 
Europe; most recently by Sharpe and Dresser, "Birds of Europe," 
vol. ii. 
It has been considered by Mr. Bennett and Mr. Gould that the 
Cinereous Vulture deviates in structure from the true Vultures, and 
that it might form with V. auricularis and V. pondecericmus a distinct 
genus. These three birds have the neck only partially bare, their ears 
more open, the claws more curved, and their beak more powerful. 
The figure in Gould is very fine and exact. 
The male and female have all the plumage dark brown or blackish. 
Top of the head covered with a tufted and woolly down; part of 
