1 16 The Wilson Bulletin. 



escape notice. Its usual upright attitude as it sits motion- 

 less midst the green leaves of a tropical bush put to the 

 best protective advantage the uniform green of its upper 

 parts while the pointing of the bill vertically may be the 

 result of protective impulse, as shown in the case of the 

 Least Bittern (Arietta exilis). 



The Tody is an example of the many curious forms of 

 bird life which, combining bright plumage with strange 

 form and habits, make the tropics such an ornithological 

 wonderland. 



AMONG THE VULTURES IN ASIA MINOR. 



BY H. C. TRACY. 



THE same varieties of the vultures occurring in Southern 

 Europe, from Spain to Greece, and on the opposite shores 

 of the Mediterranean, are met with in Asia Minor, where 

 they are common enough to attract the attention of the 

 travelers, although not so numerous as the hosts of them 

 seen in some parts of Egypt. 



The little Egyptian Vulture {NeopJiron pcrcnopterns),zox- 

 responding to the American Turkey Vulture, is common in 

 the vicinity of Turkish towns, but seldom so domestic a 

 street scavenger as to deserve the name of "Pharaoh's 

 Chicken," as the species is familiarly called. 



The bird from whom our ideas of the vulture tribe are 

 usually taken is the Tawny Vulture {Gyps fulviis), otherwise 

 Gryphon, or Griffin Vulture, equally well named the Goose 

 Vulture, from the general proportions of the long neck, 

 evenly merging head and small eyes. The Tawny Vulture 

 is by far the commonest, and composes the greater part of 

 the flock gathered about any large carrion on the plain. 



A far less common species is the Black Vulture, for which 

 scientific terminology has found the fitting name of Vultur 

 monachus; the distinctly marked patch of down on the 



