7 6 



CASSELLS BOOK OF BIRDS. 



parents tend their offspring with great care, and feed it upon flesh for four months, as until that time 

 it is unable to fly. Attempts to render this bird tractable in captivity usually prove fruitless, but 

 instances have been lately known in which the Brown Vulture has been made so tame as to run about 

 a farm-yard on excellent terms with its inhabitants, and to allow children to play with it. 



THE CRESTED VULTURE. 

 The Variegated or Crested Vulture ( Vultur occipitalis) is an inhabitant of Central Africa, 

 and is now regarded as the type of a distinct group (Lop/wgyps). In this bird the entire upper part 

 of the body, breast, and tail, are covered with black feathers, edged with brown ; the region of the 





THE TAWNY GOOSE VULTURE {Gyp fulvits). 



crop, belly, feet, and secondary quills are pure white, the primaries black. The crest is compose'd of 

 white woolly down ; the bare neck is blueish white, and covered in front with from eight to ten lines 

 of small blackish warts ; the eye is dark brown, the beak blackish blue at its tip, and reddish brown 

 at its base ; the lower mandible and cere are light blue ; the feet pale purple, or reddish white. The 

 plumage of the young is of an uniform dark blackish brown colour, the eye is grey, the beak red, and 

 the foot white. This species of Crested Vulture inhabits . all the woodland districts of California, 

 where it lives either alone or in pairs, and though by no means shy, seldom ventures near towns or 

 villages. In its general habits it closely resembles its congeners already described, 



The EARED VULTURES (O/ogyps) may be regarded as by far the most powerful mem- 

 bers of this voracious family ; they are easily recognised by their large strong head and beak, 

 large, broad, and slightly rounded wings, comparatively short tail, long legs, and very peculiar 



