380 



8 



and 9O0 by 64*0 milliras. Amongst the great numbers of eggs that have passed through my 

 hands (at least a hundred), I never met with speckled ones as described by some authors. It 

 often happens that the egg is spotted with dirt or blood ; but from the entire absence of genuine 

 markings the eggs of this species can be readily distinguished from those of ' Vultur monachus ' 

 (cinereus). The usual number of eggs in a nest is two, but often only one." 



Professor Schlegel separates the Griffon Vulture of Europe and North Africa into two 

 subspecies, Vultur fulvus orientalis and Vultur fulvus occidentalis ; and Mr. Sharpe, who took 

 the same view, has given the name of Gyps Mspaniolensis to the North-African and West- 

 European bird. It is by no means easy to give a decided opinion on this question, owing 

 chiefly to the extreme difficulty in collecting together a sufficiently large series of examples from 

 different localities ; but, judging from those I have seen in different continental and English 

 museums, I quite agree with the view taken by Mr. Gurney (Ibis, 1875, p. 88), that Mr. Sharpe's 

 Gyps Mspaniolensis is nothing but the young of the Griffon Vulture ; and in this view Mr. Sharpe 

 now acquiesces. As Mr. Gurney very aptly remarks, the adult Griffon always has the ruff com- 

 posed of white down, and the immature bird of lanceolate feathers ; and as Mr. Sharpe describes 

 his adult Gyps Mspaniolensis as having the ruff composed of feathers, not down, it is evidently 

 immature. Mr. Gurney further points out that the Spanish Griffons are not always particularly 

 rufescent, as shown by examples in the Norwich Museum. It appears to me that Schlegel's 

 Vultur fulvus occidentalis is the fully adult bird of Gyps fulvus ; for he refers to Susemihl's 

 plate 2 as being his bird, and this plate shows the pale stone-buff plumage and downy ruff of the 

 old bird, such as I have above described. Mr. Shai'pe, amongst the illustrations he cites of Gyps 

 Mspaniolensis, also includes this plate; but his description of that bird certainly agrees better 

 with Susemihl's plates 3 and 3 a, which, according to Susemihl, represent the immature plumages 

 of Gyps fulvus. Schlegel also cites Susemihl's plate 3 as representing the immature bird, and 

 plate 3 a as representing the bird of the year, of the true Gyps fulvus. In any case, if the pale- 

 rufous-plumaged bird, which I hold to be the young of Gyps fulvus, were really distinct, it would 

 stand as Gyps alMcollis, C. L. Brehm (as this naturalist gives, in Vog. Deutschl. p. 1010, a good 

 description of it), and Mr. Sharpe's name would drop into a synonym. I may also remark that 

 Mr. A. O. Hume (Rough Notes, p. 17) describes the young of Gyps Mmalayensis as being darker 

 and browner than the adult, each feather having a broad central yellowish-brown or fulvous stripe. 



Not having any skins of this bird in my own collection as they are so bulky, I have had to 

 depend chiefly on the series in the British Museum and the Norwich Museum, and in the pre- 

 paration of the above article have examined the following specimens : — 



E Mus. Brit. Beg. 

 a. Southern Spain, b. Europe, c. Athens, d. Dalmatia. e. South Hungary. /. Central Africa. 



E Mus. Norv. 

 a,juv. Pyrenees (Par zudaki). b,juv. Athens {Parzudaki) . c,sjuv. Tangier (Favier). d,3ad. Souk H arras, 

 Algeria, April 18th, 1857 (H. B. Tristram) . e, pull. Algeria (Parzudaki). f,juv. Abyssinia (Parzudaki). 



E Mus. H. B. Tristram, 

 a, 2 ad. Plain of Gennesaret, February 29th, 1864 (H. B. T.) . 



