O R D E R RAPTORES.
Family VULTURIDiE.
Genus N eo ph r o n .
1. N eo ph r o n pe r c n o p t e r u s Vol. I. PI. I.
E gyptian V u l t u r e .
We have very positive evidence that this bird has been killed in Somersetshire and Essex, o f which
occurrences the particulars will be found in my account o f the species.
Genus G y p s.
2 . G yps fu lv u s .
Griffon Vulture.
This bird has still less claim to a place in the British Fauna than the Egyptian Vulture; I have therefore
not given a plate o f it, notwithstanding that its occurrence has been recorded by Thompson, and
that Yarrell has figured it from a specimen “ caught by a youth on the rocks near Cork harbour in the
spring o f 1843. The bird was full-grown; the plumage perfect, without any o f the appearances consequent
on confinement; it was very wild and savage, and was in perfect health.”
This Vulture is o f large size and proportionate strength, possesses great sustaining powers o f flight,
and enjoys a widely extended geographical range, being found in Germany, France, on the Pyrenees, in
Spain. I t also occurs in the Grecian archipelago, Candia, Egypt, and other parts o f North Africa; and
Dr. Jerdon states that it also inhabits Western Asia and the Himalaya Mountains. I t makes a large
nest, 3 or 4 feet in diameter, on rocks and high trees, and lays two, o r sometimes three, elongated
white eggs nearly as large as those of a Goose.
Family FALCONIDjE.
Subfamily AQUILINE.
Eagles are very generally spread over the temperate and warmer portions o f the globe. Four species
frequent the British Islands—namely, two of the genus Aquila, one o f Haliaetus, and a Pandion.
Genus A qu ila .
n . . Vol. I. PI. II. 3 . A q u ila c h r y s a e t o s .....................................................................................................................
G o lden E agle.
A bird of the northern portion of Britain, where it still breeds, as it formerly did in Derbyshire
and is also said to hare done in North Wales. The young are apt to wander southwards; and hence
we occasionally see immature examples in England, but seldom adults.
. . . Vol. I. l’l. III.
4 . A q u ila ............................................................................................
S p o t t ed E agle.
The native home of this bird is the eastern portion of Europe, North Africa, and India. To
England its visits are purely accidental; yet it has been killed therein six or seven times—namely, once
in Hampshire, twice in Cornwall, and thrice in Ireland.
When mentioning in my account o f this species that the second Cornish example, killed near Caruanton,
is now in the Truro museum, I ought to have added “ to which institution it was presented by E. Brydges
Willyams, Esq.”—an omission which I now rectify.
Genus H a l ia e tu s .
. . . Vol. I. PI. IV.
5 . H al ia e tu s alb ic il la . . . • • • • ■
S ea-E ag l e .
Inhabits Greenland, Europe, and North Africa. More maritime in its habits than the Golden Eagle.
Breeds in the north. Feeds on fish and garbage of any kind thrown op by the sea.
Since my account o f the Sea-Eagle was printed, Captain Elwes has published, in ‘ The Ibis ' for 1869, an
interesting paper on the bird-stations o f the Outer Hebrides.
Speaking of the Shiant Isles, “ a small group lying in the Minch, about six miles from the coast of
Lewis,” h e says “ There is a celebrated eyry of the White-tailed Eagle {Haliaetus albicilla) here, which
has been used from time immemorial and is mentioned by Martin, who wrote nearly two hundred years ago.
I think it is as perfectly inaccessible as any nest can be, owing to the way in which the rock overhangs, and,
if the birds are not destroyed, will remain in use for centuries.”