GYPAETIN^. 



The first Subfamily, 



GYPAETINiE, or Bearded Vultures, 



have the head and neck completely clothed with feathers, and the cere of the base of the upper mandible 

 entirely hidden by projecting bristles. 



Gypaetus Storr.* 



Bill strong, lengthened, straight, laterally compressed, with the culmen curved to the tip, which is 

 much hooked and acute ; the nostrils oval, but entirely concealed by the projecting bristles which sur- 

 round the base of the upper mandible, while a tuft of similar hairs projects forwards from beneath the 

 gonys of the lower mandible. Wings lengthened, with the second and third quills nearly equal and 

 longest. Tail lengthened and wedge-shaped. Tarsi very short, and covered by feathers. Toes moderate, 

 the middle one longer than the tarsi, and the anterior ones united at the base by a membrane ; the claws 

 curved, especially those of the inner and hind toes. 



The birds of the single species composing this genus inhabit the high chains of mountains of the continents of Europe, 

 Asia, and Africa, and are generally found in pairs, but are not very common. Their usual mode of procuring the 

 animals on which they prey, viz. goats, chamois, &c, is to attack them in such manner as to cause the affrighted 

 annuals to leap over the margins of the precipitous rocks, when they leisurely feed on the mangled bodies of those 

 which are killed by their fall. They do not when pressed with hunger reject carrion. This species incubates on the 

 summits of the highest mountains. The nest is four feet in diameter, flat, and formed of larch branches, intertwined 

 with wool, goat and horse hair, and feathers, cemented together by the excrement of the bird itself. In this nest the 

 female deposits two or three eggs. 



G. barbatus (Linn.) Cuv. Edward's Birds, pi. 106., Pall. Zoogr. 

 1.372. t. 13. — Vultur barbarus Linn. ; Falco magnus S.Gmel.; 

 Vultur niger Gmel. ; Gypaetus grandis Storr , Gyp. alpinus Baud.; 

 Gyp. leucocephalus et Gyp. melanocephalus Meyer ; Phene ossi- 



fraga Sav. ; Gyp. meridionalis Brehm. ; Gyp. barbatus var. occiden- 

 talis et var. orientalis Pr. Bonap. ; Vultur aureus Briss. ; Gyp. 

 himalayanus Hutt. Journ. As. Soc. Beng. - 



* Established by Storr in 1784 (Alpenreise, p. 69.) ; Savigny's genus Phene {Hist. d'Egypte, I8O9. Zool. i. 18.) is coequal. 



September, 1844. 



