VULTURIDAE 



145 



that continent, has a yellower head and browner back ; G. indicus 

 of India and the Indo-Malay mainland, from which G. jMllescens 

 is hardly separable, has a barer head and comparatively thin bill ; 

 the former breeds in trees in place of rocks. Pseudogyps bengal- 

 ensis, the AA'hite-backed Vulture, ranging through India and down 

 the Malay Peninsula, is black above, but brownish below, with the 

 thin downy ruff and lower back white ; the bill is greyish, the cere, 

 feet, naked head and neck are black, the irides brown. This bird 

 snorts, hisses, or even roars, and walks easily, though awkwardly. 

 It nests in company on trees, and often lines the large stick-fabric 

 with foliage, as do so many other Eaptorial forms; the greenish- white 

 eggs, seldom marked with red, vary much in bulk. P. africanus, 

 of North-East and West Africa, is decidedly browner. 



The "genus Neophron contains the smallest Vultures, N. percno- 

 ptenis being called, from its frequent occurrence on Egyptian hiero- 

 glyphs, the Egyptian Vulture or Pharaoh's Hen. It has wandered 

 thrice to Britain and also to North Europe, while it breeds from 

 Savoy and Provence to Madeira, the Canaries, the Cape Verds, 

 North Africa, and India, meeting in the last-named the smaller N. 

 ginginianus ; in winter it visits South Africa, where it is called 

 the " "White Crow.'' The plumage is white, with black primaries 

 and partially brown secondaries ; a ruff of lanceolate feathers ex- 

 tends up to the occiput, the naked head and neck are yellow, the tip 

 of the bill alone being black ; the feet are pink, the irides crimson. 

 Often seen striding sedately along in search of animal and vegetable 

 refuse or dung, this species also follows the plough and devours 

 worms, grubs, insects, reptiles, and frogs ; while from its alleged 

 habit of breaking bones left by other Vultures, it is called 

 " Quebranta-huesos " or " bone-smasher " by the Spaniards.^ The 

 flight is slow and easy, the voice a croak. The flat nest of sticks, 

 lined with soft materials, and especially rags, is placed on a crag or 

 tree, and contains two white eggs with red-brown or claret blotches. 

 N. pileatus of South Africa — which has a larger north-eastern and 

 western form — is brown, with black wings and tail, downy whitish 

 nape, purplish naked areas, dusky bill and feet, and brown irides. 

 Of fossil forms there are recorded Gyps melitensis ^ from the 

 Plistocene of Malta, and Vultur from that of Prance.^ 



1 Chapman and Buck, Wild Spain, 1893, p. 206. The Black Vulture, however, 

 may possibly be meant, as the Egyptian Vulture does not seem to break bones. 

 = Lydekker, P.Z.S. 1890, p. 404. ^ Id. Cat. Fossil Birds Brit. Mus. 1891, p. 29. 

 VOL. IX L 



