states that this species inhabits the whole of Southern Africa,
and is infinitely more common within the tropics than elsewhere.
The Egyptian Vulture does not live in flocks, like
other Vultures ; although, when attracted by a carcass, eight
or ten may be seen assembled. At other times it is rare to
see more than two together. The male and female seldom
separate. In the districts which this species inhabits, every
group of the natives has a pair of these Vultures attached to
it. The birds roost on the trees in the vicinity, or on the
fences which bound the enclosures formed for their cattle.
They are to a certain degree domiciled and harmless. The
people do them no injury : on the contrary, they are rather
glad to see and encourage them, because they clear the premises
of all the offal and filth they can find. In default of
other food, they eat frogs, lizards, and snakes. They make
their nests among rocks, and the Hottentots assured M. Le
Vaillant that they laid three and sometimes four eggs ; but
this he had no opportunity of verifying. The eggs are white.
From North Africa this species passes over to Portugal;
it is common in Spain, building on high rocks about Arragon.
In France, it inhabits the Alps and Pyrenees. Buffon has
recorded its appearance, and received an adult specimen from
Norway; it is not therefore at all surprising that this bird
should have been taken in England. The specimen of this
Vulture obtained from Norway was placed by Buffon in the
National Cabinet. Le Vaillant compared his Cape specimens
with this example received from Norway, and was convinced
they were the same species.
Malta, with other islands of the Mediterranean Sea, are,
as might be expected, visited by this Vulture. Bruce, in
the appendix to his Travels, says it is frequent in Egypt and
about Cairo, where it is called by the Europeans Pharaoh’s
Hen. In Egypt and Barbary it is also called Rachamah.
This name, referring to the black and white colours of the
adult birds, is said to be derived from Rahama, a name
applied to a particular breed of sheep in Arabia Felix, which
are black and white. Bruce, however, thinks this name has
a different origin, and derived from higher antiquity, since
Rachma, or the Vulture, was sacred to Isis, and considered
as an emblem of parental affection ; he therefore thinks it
may be derived from the Hebrew, Rechem, which signifies female
love or attachment. Bruce adds, that this bird builds its
nest in the most deserted parts of the country, and lays but
two eggs. The parent birds attend their young with great
care, and feed them for the first four months. I t is considered
a breach of order to kill any one of these birds in Cairo.
From Turkey this species ranges over Arabia and Persia,
and has been taken in the Russian dominions as far north as
Astrachan, from whence it again extends eastward and southward
as far as the peninsula of India, and is included in a
Catalogue of the Birds of the Dukhun by Colonel Sykes, who
remarks of them, “ that they are always found in cantonments
and camps. For the most part of the day they continue
on the wing,-soaring in circles. When on the ground,
they walk with a peculiar gait, lifting their legs very high.
They are efficient scavengers.”
In the adult bird, the whole length from the point of the
beak to the end of the tail is from twenty-six to twenty-nine
inches; and specimens from Africa are observed to be the
largest in size. The. cere and beak are yellow, the point
brown; the irides re d : the naked skin of the cheeks and front
of the neck yellowish flesh colour ; the feathers of the occiput
and back of the neck slightly elongated : all the plumage
white except the primary and secondary wing-feathers, the
first of which are wholly black ; the second have the proximal
half black,—which colour, extending beyond the ends of the