8 VULTURIDA. 
or on the fences which bound the enclosures formed for 
their cattle. They are to a certain degree domiciled and 
harmless. The people do them no injury: on the con- 
trary, they are rather glad to see and encourage them, be- 
cause they clear the premises of all the offal and filth they 
can find. In default of other food, they eat frogs, lizards, 
and snakes. They make their nests among rocks, and the 
Hottentots assured M. Le Vaillant that they laid three 
and sometimes four eggs; but this he had no opportunity 
of verifying. The eggs are white; and in Mr. Hewitson’s 
work on British Bird’s eggs, the representation measures 
two inches and one quarter in length, by one inch and 
three-quarters in breadth. 
From the vicinity of Tangiers in North Africa, this 
species passes over to Portugal; it is common in Spain, 
building on high rocks about Arragon. In France it in- 
habits the Alps and Pyrenees, it is found also in Provence. 
Buffon has recorded its appearance, and received an adult 
specimen from Norway; it is not therefore at all sur- 
prising that this bird should have been taken in England. 
The specimen of this Vulture obtained from Norway was 
placed by Buffon in the National Cabinet. Le Vaillant 
compared his Cape specimens with this example received 
from Norway, and was convinced they were the same 
species. 
Malta, Sicily, Corfu, and Crete, with other islands of 
the Mediterranean Sea, are, as might be expected, visited 
by this Vulture. Bruce, im the appendix to his Travels, says 
it is frequent in Egypt and about Cairo, where it is called 
by the Europeans Pharach’s Hen. In Egypt and Bar- 
bary it is also called Rachamah. This name, referring to 
the black and white colours of the adult birds, is said to 
be derived from Rahama, a name applied to a particular 
