46 



LE VAILLANT's BIRDS OF AFRICA, 



other difference between the male and female, except that the latter is 

 nearly by one-fourth the larger of the two. The colours are the same, 

 except that those of the male are a slight shade deeper on the wings. 



The Griffard is met with in the country of the Great Namaquas. 

 The first pair of these birds which I saw were upon the banks of the 

 Great River, in about the 28th degree of latitude. I was more than 

 three leagues from my tent when I shot them ; they were not far from 

 each other. I was exceedingly fatigued by bringing them home to my 

 camp, for they weighed together from twenty-five to thirty pounds. 

 Approaching the tropics I met with many of the same species, and as I 

 never saw them during my journeys in Caffraria, I think their range 

 may extend from the twenty-eighth degree of south latitude to the 

 tropics. It may however reach as far as the equator, and may perhaps 

 extend throughout the torrid zone ; in a word, over all that part of 

 Africa which is not inhabited by Europeans. It is indeed more than 

 probable, that the species w r as formerly to be met with at the Cape of 

 Good Hope ; but, in proportion as the colonists extended themselves, 

 and the land came to be cultivated, these eagles were obliged to recede 

 further and further. This has been the case with all the larger animals 

 of this country, which, in consequence of requiring a large extent of 

 land to furnish them with subsistence, have been compelled to retire 

 before a still greater devastator than themselves — social man. 



A short description of the colours of the Griffard will now be sufficient 

 to prevent it from being confounded with the great eagle, or with any 

 other hitherto described. All the under part of the body, from the 

 throat to the tail, including the legs and shanks, are of a beautiful 

 white. The feathers covering the top of the head, and the back and 

 sides of the neck, are white at the base, and of a greyish-brown towards 

 the point. The feathers about the cheeks and some parts of the neck, 

 are very agreeably speckled with brown and white. The back and tail 

 coverts brownish ; all the mantle (manteau) is of this last colour, but 

 each feather is bordered with a paler tint ; the large wing feathers are 

 black ; the middle ones are striped across with dull white and brownish- 

 black ; the last feathers have a white border at the point. The tail is 

 striped in the same manner as the middle wing feathers.* 



* It is proposed to continue regularly the natural history of the other birds in Le 

 Vaillant's splendid and expensive works, the translation of several volumes being 

 already completed, and part already printed for publication, as formerly announced. 

 I shall add to each bird, as in the above article on the Griffard, the characteristics and 

 synonymes, together with such notes as may appear requisite. — Edit. 



