178 
Mr. O. Salvin’s Five Months’ Birds’-nesting 
some individuals of the Lammergeyer is probably owing to a 
stain, the effect of bathing in muddy water, or of rolling in the 
sand with wet plumage.” That such a cause should produce 
such an effect is not very obvious; and even if it were so, one 
can hardly, by such a hypothesis, account for the colours being 
distributed only on the under surface and lighter portions of the 
plumage; one would expect that the rolling process would 
extend some of its influence to the darker portions also. All 
the mature birds I saw wore a deep shade of this rich colouring. 
The young of this species, on first leaving the egg, is covered 
with down of a sooty-brown colour. A blood-red band which 
encircles the eye shows conspicuously when the bird is alarmed. 
The iris itself is in the first instance dark. 
The Arabic name applied to the Lammergeyer in Eastern 
Algeria is “ Boulachiah.” 
2. Gyps fulvus. (Griffon Vulture.) 
I have, since my return, felt rather surprised that we never 
met with the Griffon Vulture in the Regency of Tunis: the 
rocks about Kef, from which the town takes its name, would 
appear admirably adapted for the nests of this bird. But none 
were seen; nor was it till we reached Souk Harras that they 
first showed themselves, though I have since suspected that the 
greater part of a large number of birds of prey, observed soaring 
at a considerable distance near Sidi Yousef, on the Tunisian 
frontier, were of this species. At Djebel Dekma were several 
pairs, as also at Khifan M’sakta; but Kef Laks and its neigh¬ 
bourhood seem to be their head-quarters. The term Kef 
Laks is strictly applied to a cliff which faces the east, and is 
a singularly bold and marked feature in the country. This 
eastern cliff forms one side of an elevated platform, the other 
sides being also precipitous rocks of no mean height. The 
northern of these is the most extensive; and it was there that 
the greater part of the Griffon Vultures built their nests. 
These rocks are called “Gala el Hamara” and “Kef Gh’tar” 
by the Arabs. The former seemed a favourite locality; and 
every available ledge was occupied. Facing this rock is a 
point which stands boldly out from the main cliff, to the extre- 
