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he is traced by another ; and so a perpetual succession is kept up as long as a morsel of flesh 

 remains over which to consort. I can conceive no other mode of accounting for the numbers of 

 Vultures which in the course of a few hours will gather over a carcase, when previously the 

 horizon might have been scanned in vain for more than one, or at the most two, in sight. Does 

 not this explain the immense number of Vultures who were congregated in the Crimea during 

 the siege of Sebastopol, where the bird was comparatively scarce before 1 May not this habit of 

 watching the movements of their neighbours have collected the whole race from the Caucasus 

 and Asia Minor to enjoy so unwonted an abundance'? The Arabs believe that the Vultures from 

 all North Africa were gathered to feed on Russian horses in the Crimea, and declare that during 

 the war very few ' Nissr ' were to be seen in their accustomed haunts." Dr. Kirk, also, speaking 

 of the habits of the Vulture as observed by him on the Zambesi, says (Ibis, 1864, p. 314), that 

 " if game be left for an hour in the open plain while the men come to cany it off, the birds will 

 descend, and in a very short time completely devour it. This is not so if it be covered over with 

 a little grass or with branches, clearly proving that sight alone is the sense by which the birds 

 discover their prey. If part of the animal is exposed, it matters not — -probably owing to its being 

 mistaken for one asleep ; nor does the presence of blood seem to guide the birds, if the carcase 

 be concealed from view." Though the Griffon Vulture is tolerably active on the wing, and 

 traverses considerable distances without alighting to rest, it appears to be heavy and inert when 

 on the ground, and will sit for long almost motionless, especially after it has had a hearty meal ; 

 for it is like all carrion-eating species, extremely greedy, and will gorge itself until scarcely able 

 to move. Canon Tristram, speaking of the habits of the Griffon as observed by him in Palestine, 

 says, " the Griffons were in the habit of soaring high, and sweeping the horizon about daybreak ; 

 then in about two hours they would return, and either betake themselves to the work of incuba- 

 tion, or perch motionless in long rows on the most conspicuous ledges and points of the precipices 

 until the evening. They would then take a little airy exercise before retiring to rest. Like all 

 other carrion feeders, the Griffon must have the power of enduring prolonged abstinence ; for it 

 was utterly impossible that the neighbourhood of Gennesaret could have afforded sustenance to 

 the flocks, amounting to five hundred birds, on the lowest computation, which inhabited the 

 valleys close to it ; and yet, so far as we could observe, for many days the sitting birds and their 

 mates never left the wadys for more than an hour or two. Each had its own perch, its reserved 

 seat ; and daily we noted Vultures in exactly the same spots and in exactly the same numbers as 

 we had seen them before. Nor were the Griffons first in the field for what little carrion our 

 immediate neighbourhood afforded. The wolves and jackals always came in for the lion's share 

 of a feast whenever a horse or cow died, as frequently happened near our camp. On a subsequent 

 occasion, on the north side of Hermon, we observed them teaching the Neophrons the same 

 lesson of patience they had learnt here. A long row of Egyptian Vultures were sitting on some 

 rocks, so intently watching a spot in a cornfield that they took no notice of our approach. 

 Creeping cautiously near, we watched a score of Griffons busily engaged in turning over a dead 

 horse, one side of which they had already reduced to a skeleton. Their united efforts had just 

 effected this, when we showed ourselves, and they quickly retired. The inferior scavengers, who 

 dreaded us much less than them, at once rushed down to the repast, and, utterly regardless of 

 our presence within ten yards of them, began to gorge. We had hardly retired two hundred yards 



