GRIF FON VULTURE.
GRIFFON VULTURE.
GYPS FULVUS {J. F. Gmelin).
Vultur fulvus, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 249 (1788); Naum. i.
p. 162; Hewitson, i. p. 3.
Gyps fulvus, Yarr. ed. 4, i. p. 1; Dresser, y. p. 373.
Vautour Griffon, French; Weisskopfiger Geier, German;
Buitre, Pajaraco, Spanish.
One capture only of this Vulture has hitherto been
recorded as having occurred in our Islands; the individual
in question, now preserved in the Museum of
Trinity College, Dublin, was caught alive near Cork
Harbour in the spring of 1848. Although this specimen
is undoubtedly, as Mr. H. Saunders says, in immature
plumage, I here give a representation taken from life of a
fully adult bird, for the reason that Gould, in his e Birds
of Europe,’ figures an immature bird of this species,
and, with all due deference to my friend Mr. Dresser, I
cannot consider that the excellent first plate of this bird
in his work was taken from a very old specimen. It
must, however, be remembered that “ old ” is, with
regard to Vultures, a very indefinite term ; personally I
should not consider a Griffon Vulture fully mature till
it had attained the age of at least seven or eight years.