Birds. 987 



Shannon, carefully preserved and stuffed, and placed at the disposal 

 of Mr. Ball, who has added it to the collection in Trinity College, 

 Dublin. It is in adult plumage." — Ann. Nat. Hist. xv. 308. 



Thinking that a figure and description of such a rara avis would 

 be acceptable to my subscribers, I pencilled the sketch introduced 

 on the preceding page from the splendid living specimen of the same 

 species now in possession of the Zoological Society, and have 

 gleaned the particulars which follow from Temminck's admirable 

 ' Manual of Ornithology,' and other works of authority. 



Vultures, generally, are led by their depraved appetite to rid the 

 earth of the putrifying flesh of animals which have been left on the 

 surface of the ground, and by thus removing offensive matter, they 

 render signal service to living beings. They are cowardly creatures, 

 and their ignoble and disgusting figure supplies the naturalist with 

 many characters whereby he can distinguish them from the more 

 noble birds of prey, which possess the power of capturing, either by 

 strength or cunning, the living animals on which they feed. Their 

 legs, toes and claws, are without that formidable structure which in 

 the birds of prey supply the means of attacking and of carrying 

 away their victims : their food, therefore, is consumed in the places 

 where it is found. In vultures the head and neck are either naked 

 or furnished with short down, the head always appearing small in 

 comparison with the size of the body, and the neck is generally long 

 and slender. Their flight is not rapid, but often at a great elevation, 

 and whether ascending or descending almost invariably in circles. 

 Their sight is most piercing, and their power of smell remarkably 

 acute. On the ground their gait is particularly awkward, and their 

 walk heavy. They nestle in the most inaccessible rocks, and dis- 

 gorge before their young ones the disgusting food with which they 

 have loaded their capacious stomachs. They moult but once in the 

 year. The sexes are scarcely distinguishable, except by size,— the 

 males, as in birds of prey generally, being invariably smaller than 

 the females. In the plumage of young birds, the colour is often dis- 

 tributed in numerous spots, while in adults it is either uniform or in 

 large masses. Vultures are rarely known to attack living animals ; 

 and, when a solitary vulture has left its companions, the most timid 

 and mean of animals will put it to flight. 



The Griffon Vulture partakes, in every respect, of the characters of 

 its tribe. It is very common throughout Africa and Gibraltar ; it also 

 inhabits Turkey, the islands of the Grecian Archipelago, Silesia, the 

 Tyrol, the mountainous districts of the north of Europe, the Alps, 



