VULTURID/E. 



outer and hinder toes three ; the upper part of the toes and 

 the tarsus are reticulated ; the claws black, and but little 

 arched : the tail is graduated, and extends three inches and 

 a quarter beyond the tips of the wings. 



The entire length of the Egyptian Vulture is thirty-one 

 inches ; the bill is two inches four lines in length ; the 

 tarsus three inches ; the middle toe three inches, the outer 

 and middle toes united at the base ; wing from carpus to tip 

 nineteen inches : the inner claw measures thirteen lines, the 

 hinder nearly the same, and describe one-fourth of a circle ; 

 the outer claw is still less arched. The legs and toes are 

 yellow, the iris red. 



The specimen mentioned to have been shot in Somerset- 

 shire was in immature plumage, but it was thought advisable 

 to choose an adult individual for the subject of the plate, as 

 affording a more perfect representation of the species to which 

 it belongs. 



I regret the impossibility of giving a representation of the 

 egg of the Egyptian Vulture, which, although the species is 

 common in so many parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, re- 

 mains still unknown. In all probability it bears a resem- 

 blance to others of the Vulturidse. One which I have seen, 

 of a different species of the Vulture tribe, was of a very pe- 

 culiar form ; long and pointed, or, to speak more correctly, 

 narrowed at both ends, white, of a dull surface, somewhat 

 resembling chalk, and rugged. 



