Order ACCIPITRES. 



Family VULTURID-^. 



THE GRIFFON-VULTURE. 

 Gyps fulvus (J. F, Gmelin). 

 Plate 29. 



An immature specimen of this Vulture was captured near Cork Harbour in the 

 spring of 1843, and another is recorded by Howard Saunders as having been seen 

 near Southampton Water many years later. It is a common bird in many parts 

 of the Spanish Peninsula, and is found across Southern Europe to the Ural 

 Mountains, also in northern India and a great part of Africa. 



The Griffon is gregarious during the breeding season, and builds its nest 

 of sticks and grass on the ledges of cliffs or in rocky cavities ; it lays one or two 

 eggs, generally white, but sometimes blotched with reddish-brown. 



The bird feeds on the carcases of animals, discovered not by scent but by its 

 wonderful power of sight, each individual while aloft not only searching the 

 ground, but keeping its eye on any tell-tale movements of its neighbours. 



The female is rather less in size than the male. 



THE EGYPTIAN VULTURE. 



Neophron percnopterus (Linnaeus). 

 Plate 29. 



Two immature Vultures of this species were seen at Bridgewater Bay, 

 Somersetshire, in October 1825, one of which was killed, and many years later, 

 on 28th September 1868, another was obtained at Peldon, Essex. 



It has a wide range over Southern and Eastern Europe, being found as far east 

 as north-western India, and over a great part of Africa. It appears to be migratory 

 in many places, and usually is seen in pairs. 



The nest is made of sticks and any kind of odds and ends the bird can find, 

 and is generally placed on a ledge or in a cavity in a cliff, occasionally in trees. 

 The two eggs are creamy-white in ground colour, marked with brownish-red. 



The bird feeds on reptiles, carrion of all kinds, and any filthy garbage it may 

 come across, and therefore makes itself a most efficient scavenger in hot climates, 

 where those useful members of society are non-existent. In character it is timid 

 and cowardly. 



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