14 BRITISH BIRDS. 



The Egyptian Vulture is said to eat snakes and other reptiles ; but car- 

 rion is no doubt its main food. Tristram describes very graphically how 

 a dead camel is first preyed upon by the wolves and jackals. The Griffon 

 Vultures wait until the quadrupeds are satisfied^ and then they take their 

 turn ; and not until they have gorged themselves are the Egyptian Vultures 

 allowed to begin their meal. In the Golden Horn, in Constantinople, I 

 have seen them picking up dead fish and other offal from the surface of 

 the water in company with Black Kites and Gulls. 



In Stamboul they breed in the old cypresses, and on the walls and 

 mosques; and Col. Irby mentions an instance of one breeding in an old 

 nest of a Short-toed Eagle, in a cork-tree, near Gibraltar. Lord Lilford 

 describes these birds in Andalusia as following the plough to pick up the 

 grubs turned up by the ploughshare. Tristram describes them in Palestine 

 as resorting to the dunghills of the villages to feed, eagerly devouring all 

 sorts of animal or vegetable filth, and mentions a pair which he surprised 

 in the act of gorging at a heap of spoilt figs. He also states that the dung 

 of the flocks and herds of the Bedouins is their favourite food. He 

 describes their nests as very large ; but these would probably be old Eagles' 

 or Ravens' nests which had been appropriated by the Egyptian Vultures. 



The flight of this Vulture is very similar to that of the Griffon. J. H. 

 Gurney, jun., describing its habits in Algeria, says that " both in ascending 

 and in descending it usually flies in circles. Like most other birds of prey, 

 it rarely flaps its wings, but, with pinions motionless, slightly upturned at 

 the tips, it scans the surrounding country from an enormous height, 

 receding rapidly from the eye, yet appearing to fly but slowly. The 

 nearer the ground the smaller are the circles, and the more lowered is the 

 inner wing; in fact, when about to settle, the bird is nearly sideways, the 

 point of one wing appearing to be directly beneath the point of the other. 

 It walks with long strides, but not fast, stooping first on one side and then 

 on the other." 



The Egyptian Vulture, when adult, is a nearly white bird, with black 

 primaries and brown secondaries. The bill is dark brown, and the cere 

 yellow; legs and toes flesh-colour, claws black. In the immature birds 

 the feathers are dark brown, tipped with buff. 



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