o CINEREOUS VULTURE. 



has been observed in Russia, in Provence and Lan- 

 guedoc, and in Sardinia. M. Schinz says that he did 

 not find it in Switzerland; neither has it been found 

 there by M. Tscharner, who lives near Berne. It is 

 found rarely in Germany and Dalmatia. A large flock, 

 according to M. Degland, was observed to pass over 

 the environs of Angers in October, 1839; a larger 

 number having been observed at the same place and 

 season two years before. Both flocks appeared to come 

 from the northward, and to wend their way towards 

 the Pyrenees. It occurs in India and Egypt, but 

 according to Dr. Riippell, it is not found in Africa. 



Like most of its tribe, the Cinereous Vulture feeds 

 upon carrion. M. Temminck says that it does so 

 exclusively, and that it flies away in fear from the 

 smallest live animal. Bechstein, on the contrary, says 

 that it attacks in the winter, hares, sheep, goats, and 

 even deer. It can detect its food from a great distance, 

 probably by its acute vision equally with its supposed 

 exalted sense of smell. 



It builds among the most inaccessible rocks. The 

 nest is of large size, and made of branches, boughs, 

 and small sticks. It lays two large eggs, pointed alike 

 at both ends; of a dirty white, without spots, and a 

 rough surface. — (Degland.) This description is taken 

 from an egg found in the Hautes Pyrenees, which is 

 in the collection of M. Moquin Tandon. 



In the "Revue de Zoologie," for 1854, M. Jaubert 

 remarks: — "The V. arrian breeds in small numbers in 

 the Pyrenees, where it lives in isolated pairs, never 

 mingling at that epoch with the flocks of Griffons. Its 

 eggs, collected personally by Captain Loche, are very 

 large, with a rough and hard surface, of a more or 

 less pure white." M. Temminck observes that there is 



