10 



BRITISH BIRDS. 



friend Mr. Howard Saunders tells me that in Southern Spain there is a 

 colony of GriflFon Vultures whose eggs are always more or less spotted 

 and streaked. Griffon Vultures" eggs vary from 3-85 to 3'5 inches in length, 

 and from 2-9 to ?/7 inches in breadth. Eggs of the Black Vulture {Vul- 

 tur cinereus), although, as a rule, richly marked, sometimes very closely 

 resemble those of the Griffon Vulture. It is then impossible to separate 

 the eggs of the two species with certainty, — although in the field confusion 

 can never arise j for the Black Vulture invariably nests in trees, and the 

 Griffon just as invariably on rocks. 



The Griffon Vulture is a buffish-brown bird with nearly black wings 

 and tail, and with the head and neck covered with white down. The bill 

 is pale brown and the legs lead-colour ; not vice versa, as is erroneously 

 given in Dresser's ' Birds of Europe.' 



The young birds, when newly hatched, are covered with white down. 



NEST OF GRI1'F0^' VUI/rUUE. 



