30 VULTURE. 



23— ARABIAN. 



Vultur Mouachus, Ind. Orn. i. p. 5. Lin. Si/st. 1. 122. Gm. Lin. i. 246. Daud. ii. 15, 



Shaw's Zool.\'\\. 19. pi. 7. 8. 9. Tern. Man. d' Orn. p. 3. 

 Vultur leporaiius, Gerin. 1. t. 9. 

 Vultur Arabicus, Bris. App. p. 29. Id. 8vo, i. 138. 

 Crested Black Vulture, Edit: pi. 290. 

 Arabian Vulture, Gen, Syn. i. p. S. 



THIS is a large species, having an extent of wing of nine feet ; 

 bill bluish at the base, with a black tip; cere blue ; irides hazel ; head 

 and neck covered mth downy ash-coloured feathers; the crown 

 gibbous, being elevated into a large knob ; orbits white ; on the 

 shoulders an ash-coloured ruff of loose feathers, into which the bird 

 can draw its head during sleep. The plumage on the body is dusky 

 brown, paler beneath ; lesser wing coverts tipped with white ; quills 

 and tail dusky dark brown ; thigh feathers long and loose, so as 

 nearly to cover the legs, which are bluish ; claws black. 



M. Levaillant adds, that the irides are whitish, and the crop large 

 and round. In a state of rest, especially after a full meal, it draws 

 the head into the ruff, resting the bill on the crop, in which state it 

 appears a shapeless mass of feathers, especially as the bird is never 

 observed to fold the wings over the tail, but to droop them down 

 carelessly on each side. 



M. Levaillant's bird was brought from China. Mr. Edwards 

 says, that his came from Arabia. La Peronse observes, that it is found 

 about the Pyrenees, in the same place with the Cinereous Vtilture, 

 Mr. White saw it once or twice at Gibraltar, but it is, we believe, no 

 where common. Supposed by some to be the same as the Cinereous 

 Vulture. 



