312 GRIFFON-VULTURE. 
and has been captured on the cliffs to the north-west of Cherbourg. 
It annually visits the south of France in autumn ; breeds in small 
numbers on the Spanish frontier in the Western Pyrenees ; and is 
common in the mountainous portions of the Iberian Peninsula, as 
well as in most of the situations suitable to its habits in Southern 
Europe and the basins of the Mediterranean, Black and Caspian 
Seas. In Switzerland and the Carpathians it is of very rare occur- 
rence, though it has been obtained in Poland, and in Germany as 
far north as East Prussia ; while in Russia it is found up to about 
lat. 50°, and has considerably extended its range northward along 
the Ural Mountains during the last forty years. In Asia it can be 
traced to Turkestan and the mountains of Northern India, where, 
however, it meets with a larger form which has been separated as 
G. himalayensis; while in Africa it is resident as far south as 
Nubia (though represented by G. Ao/éi in the south), and is found 
in the Red Sea district down to Aden. 
Towards the end of January the Griffon-Vultures may be seen 
building or repairing their nests with branches of trees and claws- 
full of grass torn up by the roots. Their usual resorts are over- 
hung ledges, cavities and fissures, such as are especially frequent in 
limestone ranges, and these are seldom accessible from above with- 
out a rope; while owing to thick scrub the base of the cliff is often 
unattainable. Exceptionally a nest has been found in a tree. In the 
latter part of February, though sometimes not till the end of March, 
1 and not rarely 2 eggs are laid; these are rough in texture, and 
usually white in colour, but some are more or less marked with 
genuine blotches of a rusty-brown, as well as with blood-stains: 
measurements 3°7 by 2°8 in. A strong and unpleasant musky smell 
pervades the eggs, nest, and the whole dung-splashed ledge. Like 
other Vultures, this species hunts by means of its keen sight; the 
alteration in the flight of the nearest bird, on the discovery of a 
carcase, being quickly noticed and followed-up by more distant 
individuals. During the lambing-season I have seen it on the 
ground, assiduous in its attendance upon the ewes; but it is an 
arrant coward and I never knew of its touching any living creature. 
It is at all times somewhat gregarious. 
The general colour is buffish-brown, with black on the wings and 
tail; the head and neck are covered with whitish down; and there 
is a broad ruff, which is composed of long whitish filaments in the 
adult, but of brownish acuminate feathers in the young ; under parts 
striated buff in the adult, warm fulvous in the young. Length about 
42 in., wing 28 in.; the female being slightly smaller than the male. 
