392 



2 



Juv. ochraceo-cervinus, ubique nigro-fusco variegatus : colli plumis nigro-fuscis cervino fulvido apicatis : 

 corpore subtus saturatius nigro-fusco : parte capitis nuda livida : rostro ad basin sordide flavo-griseo : 

 pedibus lividis : iride fusca. 



Adult Female (Seville, March 1870). Head, neck, back, wing-coverts, rump, and underparts generally 

 white, tinged with creamy buff; feathers on the occiput and back of the neck elongated, lanceolate, 

 and tinged with buff ; fore part of the head and throat bare ; primaries blackish, with the base of the 

 outer web margined with greyish buff; secondaries varied dark brown and buff; tail white, graduated : 

 apical portion of the beak blackish, the basal portion and bare part of the head yellow ; iris deep red ; 

 legs and feet dark flesh-colour, claws black. Total length about 26 inches, gape 2.32, wing 19"2, 

 tail lO'O, tarsus 3"4. 



Young (Seville). Plumage generally creamy buff blotched with dark brown; the neck blackish brown, the 

 feathers tipped with creamy fulvous, the bare parts of the head with small blackish brown tufts scattered 

 sparingly here and there ; quills as in the adult, but more marked with greyish buff ; tail warm buif and 

 brown; bill dull yellowish at the base ; bare portions of the head livid ; iris brown; legs livid-greyish. 



The Egyptian Vulture but rarely straggles above the southern portions of Central Europe ; but 

 it is common in the countries skirting the Mediterranean, and is to be met with as far south as 

 the Cape of Good Hope. In Asia it appears to range as far east as India, where it meets a 

 closely allied form, Neophron ginginianus. 



The present species has been obtained at least twice in Great Britain : — once near Kilve, in 

 Somersetshire, in October 1825 (this specimen, which was seen in company with another which 

 escaped, being now in the possession of the Rev. John Matthew, of Kilve) ; and, according to 

 Dr. Bree (Zool. 1868, p. 1456), a second example was shot at Peldon, in Essex, on the 28th 

 September 1868. Buffon states (I.e.) that he received a specimen from Norway; but recent 

 authors on the ornithology of Scandinavia do not include this species, and it seems highly 

 probable that there was some mistake in the matter. It does not occur in North Germany, 

 Holland, or Belgium. But in some parts of France it is tolerably numerous, as, for instance, in 

 several portions of the Pyrenees, in the more elevated mountains of Provence, especially in the 

 departments of Var and Basses Alpes ; and it inhabits Isere, la Drome, Herault, Gard, Bouches 

 du Rhone, and Ariege ; and, according to the Abbe Vincelot, it is of occasional occurrence on 

 passage in the department of Maine-et-Loire. In all these localities it is a summer visitant, 

 arriving in April and leaving in the early autumn to winter in warmer latitudes ; and the same 

 may be said respecting its occurrence in Switzerland and Savoy, where, according to Bailly, it is 

 by no means numerous. A few pairs breed on Mount Saleve, near Geneva, which is said to 

 be its most northerly nesting-place. It inhabits Portugal ; but Dr. E. Rey informs me that he 

 never met with it but in Algarve, and there only singly. Early in April he saw fledged young 

 birds ; and at the same time a pair were feeding their young, which were still in the nest. 



It appears to be common in Spain ; and Lord Lilford informs me, " This species is very 

 abundant in Andalucia and throughout Central Spain, less so in the northern provinces ; we 

 observed it in Santander, Aragon, Navarre, and Cataluha, but did not meet with it in Guipuzcoa. 

 It haunts the outskirts of towns and villages, and, besides feeding on carrion and garbage of all 

 sorts, devours snakes and other small reptiles. It is often to be seen following the plough, and 



