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Suborder ACCIPITRES. 

 Family VTJLTURID^l. 



Genus GYPS. 



Vultur apud Brisson, Orn. i. p. 462 (1760). 

 Gyps, Savigny, Syst. Ois. de 1'Egypte, p. 8 (1810). 



The Vultures, which have the head bare or covered with down, have been subdivided into six 

 genera by Mr. Sharpe (Cat. Accip. Brit. Mus.), three of which inhabit the Western Patoarctic 

 Begion. I have, however, deemed it advisable to include in the Vulturida? the genus Gypaetus, 

 which has by some authors been placed in a separate family, and which Mr. Sharpe places far 

 apart from the Vulturidaa, in his subfamily Aquilinse. The Vultures belonging to the genus 

 Gyps, of which only one species inhabits the Western Palsearctic Begion, are distributed in the 

 Palsearctic, Ethiopian, and Oriental Begions. They are carrion-eaters, feeding on putrid or fresh 

 carcasses and on all sorts of garbage, and do not capture their prey like Hawks. They soar at 

 great altitudes, flying in circles in search of food, which they can discern from a great distance ; 

 and when food is plentiful they will gorge themselves until scarcely able to move. Although 

 they fly well, they are heavy and clumsy on the ground, and do not walk with facility. They are 

 sociable, and are usually seen in parties even during the nesting-season. They breed in caves and 

 fissures of the cliffs, constructing a nest of branches, sticks, and grass, which they place on the 

 bare rock, and deposit a single white egg, which is very rarely marked with colour. 



Gyps fulvus, the type of the genus, has the bill strong, stout, and deep, the upper mandible 

 rising in front of the cere and curving towards the tip, which is strongly hooked ; nostrils 

 exposed, diagonal ; head and upper neck covered with short down, the lower neck encircled by a 

 ruff of elongated feathers ; wings long, the first primary short, the fourth longest ; tail of fourteen 

 feathers ; feet strong, the middle toe rather longer than the tarsus, and united to the outer toe 

 at the base by a membrane ; claws moderate, slightly curved. 



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