EGYPTIAN VULTURE. 9 
breed of sheep in Arabia Felix, which are black and 
white. Bruce, however, thinks this name has a different 
origin, and derived from higher antiquity, since Rachma, 
or the Vulture, was sacred to Isis, and considered as an 
emblem of parental affection; he therefore thinks it may 
be derived from the Hebrew, Rechem, which signifies fe- 
male love or attachment. Bruce adds, that this bird 
builds its nest in the most deserted parts of the country, 
and lays but two eggs. The parent birds attend their 
young with great care, and feed them for the first four 
months. It is considered a breach of order to kill any one 
of these birds in Cairo. 
From Turkey this species ranges over Arabia and Per- 
sia, and has been found in the Russian dominions as far 
north as Astrachan, from whence it again extends east- 
ward and southward, and has been taken in various parts 
of India. Colonel Sykes remarks of them, “that they 
are always found in cantonments and camps. For the 
most part of the day they continue on the wing, soaring 
in circles. When on the ground, they walk with a pe- 
culiar gait, lifting their legs very high. They are efficient 
scavengers.” 
In‘ the adult bird, the whole length from the point of 
the beak to the end of the tail is from twenty-six to twenty- 
nine inches; and specimens from Africa are observed to 
be the largest in size. The cere and beak are yellow, the 
point brown; the irides red: the naked skin of the cheeks 
and front of the neck yellowish flesh colour; the feathers 
of the occiput and back of the neck slightly elongated : 
all the plumage white except the primary and secondary 
wing-feathers, the first of which are wholly black; the 
second have the proximal half black,—which colour, ex- 
tending beyond the ends of the great wing-coverts, forms 
