CINEREOUS VULTURE. 9 
no well-marked difference between the specimens of this 
bird from India and Egypt and those of Europe. 
It does not appear to be either a cowardly or a 
stupid bird. M. Degland mentions an instance in which 
one in confinement answered to the yoice of its master, 
and defended itself with courage against some small 
dogs which tried to bite it. M. Bouteille also, in a 
> relates an 
note to his “Ornithology of the Dauphine,’ 
instance of one of those birds, which in confinement 
became so familiar as to call for its food. It however 
once escaped into his establishment and _ seriously 
wounded two men. 
It has been considered by Mr. Bennett and Mr. 
Gould that the Cinereous Vulture deviates in structure 
from the true Vultures, and that it might form with 
V. auricularis and V. pondicerranus a distinct genus. 
These three birds have the neck only partially bare, their 
ears more open, the claws more curved, and their beak more 
powerful. The figure in Gould is very fine and exact. 
The male and female have all the plumage dark 
brown or blackish. Top of the head covered with a 
tufted and woolly down; part of the head and neck 
naked, and of a livid bluish colour; feathers long and 
curved, re-ascending obliquely from the inferior part of 
the side of the neck towards the nape; other feathers 
loose and light, covering the insertion of the wings. 
Cere and sides of the posterior half of the beak flesh- 
coloured, with a violet tinge; tip of the beak and 
claws black; iris brown. Feet covered with feathers 
above, the remainder naked and bluish, like the naked 
part of the head and neck, but of a clearer tint. 
Young bird, brown, inclining to fawn-coloured; cen- 
tre of the feathers darker, the head and neck covered 
with a bluish grey down.—(Degland.) 
VOL, I. Cc 
