EGYPTIAN VULTURE. 7 
middle of the beak, elongated, longitudinal. Head and neck partly bare of 
feathers. Wings long, rather pointed ; the third quill-feather the longest. 
Legs of moderate strength and length; tarsi reticulated ; feet with four toes, 
three before, one behind ; anterior toes united at the base.  Tail-feathers 
fourteen. 
Two examples of this Vulture were seen on the shores of 
the Bristol Channel, and one of them, now in the possession 
of the Rey. A. Mathew, of Kilve in Somersetshire, was 
shot near that place in October 1825. “ When first dis- 
covered it was feeding upon the carcass of a dead sheep, 
and had so gorged itself with the carrion as to be unable 
or unwilling to fly to any great distance at a time, and 
was therefore approached without much difficulty and 
shot. Another bird, similar to it in appearance, was seen 
at the same time upon wing at no great distance, which 
remained in the neighbourhood a few days, but could never 
be approached within range, and which was supposed to 
be the mate of the one killed.” 
The Egyptian Vulture is included by Le Vaillant in 
his Birds of Southern Africa. He found it occasionally 
at the Cape, and still more numerous in the interior: it 
has also been obtained by naturalists in the same locali- 
ties up to the present time. It is there called by various 
names which signify White Crow, the name referring to 
the adult bird. Le Vaillant states that this species in- 
habits the whole of Southern Africa, and is infinitely 
more common within the tropics than elsewhere. The 
Egyptian Vulture does not live in flocks, like other Vul- 
tures; although, when attracted by a carcass, eight or ten 
may be seen assembled. At other times it is rare to see 
more than two together. The male and female seldom 
separate. In the districts which this species inhabits, 
every group of the natives has a pair of these Vultures 
attached to it. The birds roost on the trees in the vicinity, 
