the Straits of Gibraltar/ states that many pass northwards
at the end of February, but the greater number,
almost always in pairs, during March. In the immediate
neighbourhood'of Seville I have only observed one
during the month of February, but lower down the
Gadalquivir have found these Vultures in considerable
number early in March. I have been assured that a few
Neophrons pass the winter in the plains of Andalucia,
but I cannot affirm this as a fact, and believe that the
great majority leave Spain at the approach of autumn.
In very many localities in Southern and Central Spain,
where a broken hillside from its steepness attains to the
dignity of a cliff, and presents convenient ledges or
clefts, a pair or two of the Neophron may be found
breeding. The nests are composed of dead sticks, upon
which the birds pile up a mass of every imaginable
rubbish that they can pick up about their favourite
resorts—heaps of excrement and refuse that abound in
and about almost every village. In fact, whilst the
larger Vultures are usually more or less shy of approach,
and, for the most part, satisfy their appetites upon the
remains of large animals in the open plains, the present
species is ubiquitous, and seems to be as much at home
in a village-street as when following the plough for grubs
and worms, or watching for lizards and centipedes
amongst the lofty limestone rocks of the mountain-
ranges. I have generally found the Neophron in pairs,
but a good many may occasionally be found congregated
about any large skeleton from which the more powerful
carrion-birds have removed the flesh and entrails,
attracted, as I believe, not only by the chance of
picking up any fragments of the banquet, but also by
the beetles that are in that line of business. Nothing
comes amiss to this bird in the way of food, but I think
that, although they readily devour small snakes, lizards,
frogs, scorpions, centipedes, and beetles, they prefer the
most disgusting filth and the most odoriferous decaying
garbage to living animals of any sort. On one occasion
I observed two of these birds, a White Stork, two or
three cur-dogs, a sow and her pigs, a starving cat, and
three young children apparently enjoying themselves on
a heap of what I will call “ refuse,” in the main street
of a Spanish village. I am assured that the Neophron
frequently nests in trees, but all the occupied nests that
I have seen have been in the hollows of cliffs, generally
at no very great elevation. I must, however, mention
that I am acquainted with one instance in which a pair
of Neophrons took possession of a nest of the Common
Kite, from which the original owners had been destroyed
and their eggs taken. The eggs are laid in April, but
I do not think that the young leave the nests before
July. On wing, at some distance, the Neophron presents
a very remarkable appearance, giving (to me at
least) the impression of a bird flying without a head;
but it is only when on wing that this species is not
repulsive in the highest degree. Its aspect is in keeping
with its habits and character—a coward and a bully
of the lowest type, and withal a perfect instrument, as
far as its capacities extend, for sanitary purposes in
countries where the human inhabitants ignore the most
obvious precautions against pestilence.
The bird from which the principal figure in my Plate