THE GRIFFON VULTURES. 
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while Riippell’s Vulture (Gyps rueppelli) is remarkable for the 
whitish tips to the feathers of the upper surface. The Griffon 
Vultures are distributed over the Mediterranean Region in 
Europe, the whole of Africa, the Indian Peninsula, and the 
Burmese provinces down to the Malayan Peninsula. 
I. THE GRIFFON VULTURE. GYPS FULVUS. 
V'uUur fulvus, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 249 (1788). 
Gyps fiilvus, Newt. ed. Yarr. Br. B. i. p. i (1871); Sharpe, 
Cat. B. Brit. Mus. i. p. 6 (1874) ; Dresser, B. Eur. v. p. 
373, pis. 319, 320 (1879) ; Seebohm, Hist. Br. B. i, p. 4 
{1883); B. O. U. List Br. B. p. 91 {1883); Saunders, Man. 
Br. B. p. 301 (18S9); Lilford, Col. Eig. Br. B. part xxiii. 
(ii^93)- 
Adalt Male. — Ashy-fulvous above, with a slight shade of grey 
on some of the feathers, some of which are darker brown, 
giving the bird a mottled appearance ; wing-coverts a little 
paler than the back, tlie greater series edged and tipped with 
creamy-white ; lower back and rump darker brown ; the upper 
tail-coverts ijale ochraceous-buff; quills and tail black, slightly 
shaded with brown, the secondaries broadly edged with ashy, 
the inner ones tipped with ochraceous-buff; ruff round the 
neck white, and composed of downy feathers; crop-patch 
brown ; under surface of body creamy-brown, with narrow 
whitish shaft-lines ; cere bluish-black ; bill yellowish-white 
horn-colour; feet lead-colour; iiis reddish-orange. Total 
length, about 40 inches ; culmeii, 3-7 ; wing, about 29-0 ; tail, 
12-0 ; tarsus, 4'4. 
Adult Female, — Smaller than the male (Newton). 
Young Birds. — More tawny than the adults ; the ruff round 
the neck composed of lanceolate feathers, which are whitish, 
with tawny margins ; crop-patch rufous fawn-colour, like the 
rest of the under surface, with a whitish mark down the centre 
of each feather. Total length, about 38 inches ; wing, 27 'o. 
The bird which I separated in 1874 as the Spanish Griffon 
(Gyps hispaniolensis) is now considered by ornithologists to 
be the young of G. fulvus, in which the ruff is downy instead 
of being composed of lanceolate feathers. I accept this verdict 
at present, but it is much to be desired that the changes of 
