GRIFFON VULTURE. 9 



same manner as the first nest. It was not clue to any carrion about the 

 place (such as is frequently the case in a Neopliron's nest), but appeared 

 to be caused from the dung and the natural odour of the birds. At times 

 it was most nauseating. 



" As I was making good my retreat towards the spur of the hill I met 

 with a mishap which gave me rather a start. I had grown bold when I 

 found the ledges of strata gave such good hand and foothold, and so did 

 not take much notice of where I rested. Suddenly a piece under my foot 

 gave way, and I swung round on the hand (which luckily had a good 

 hold) furthest from the rock, causing my egg-bag to swing round and hit 

 the rock. Luckily I somehow got a foothold and was able to reach a 

 safer spot. During the time that I was rifling their nests the Griffons 

 kept sailing about overhead ; ever and again one bolder than the rest 

 would come swooping past me, but never near enough to give me any 

 apprehension. Most fortunately they did not realize what a very slight 

 touch would have upset my balance when traversing the small ledges. I 

 was very glad when I found myself doubling the spur, and could see that 

 the ground in rear of the cliff was easy to traverse, though rough and 

 broken. I made my way in rear over huge boulders with aloes and every 

 sort of obstacle growing between them, the worst being prickly pears, 

 which abounded. I passed a huge cave which was evidently much fre- 

 quented by the Vultures as a shelter in certain winds, judging from the 

 enormous amount of dung which spread like whitewash all down the face 

 of the crags. 



" Upon blowing the eggs I found that four were quite fresh, or nearly 

 so ; the rest contained young Vultures in various states of development : 

 one would have been hatched out within a week." 



The Griffon Vulture seldom lays more than one egg, although occa- 

 sionally two have been recorded, and Salvin found one egg and one young 

 bird in a nest of this species in Algeria. The eggs are coarse in texture, 

 and possess little or no gloss. Most eggs are white, or nearly so ; but some 

 show a considerable amount of marking which cannot be explained by 

 any supposition of their being stained. One specimen in my collection 

 is very faintly but broadly streaked and blotched on the larger end with 

 very pale pinkish brown; another, one of the handsomest eggs of this 

 species I ever saw, obtained by Colonel Irby at Malaga, has the colouring- 

 matter very evenly distributed in spots and blotches and pale streaks 

 uniformly over the entire surface ; a third is cashed round its centre with a 

 band of reddish brown, and on the larger end is a thick irregular mass 

 of rich brown ; a fourth (which is figured) has the deep-brown spots 

 confined to the smaller end of the egg, where they form an irregular 

 zone ; whilst a fifth, which may be called a typical egg, is milky white, 

 spotless or clouded here and there with stains and nest-markings. My 



