File:The royal natural history (1893) (14782509464).jpg

Identifier: royalnaturalhist47lyde (find matches)
Title: The royal natural history
Year: 1893 (1890s)
Authors: Lydekker, Richard, 1849-1915 Sclater, Philip Lutley, 1829-1913 Frostick, W. B., former owner. DSI Brooks, W. T., former owner. DSI
Subjects: Zoology Natural history
Publisher: London and New York : Frederick Warne & Co.
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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^, and varyfrom pure greyish or reddish white, with a few specks at one end, to a uniformdingy blood-red hue. The Egyptian vulture, or Pharaohs chicken, is wellrepresented on the ancient sculptures of the country from which it takes its name,and is the bird alluded to in Leviticus under the name of Geier-eagle. On accountof its value as a scavenger, it is still protected in Egypt, as it is in some other
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PILEATED VULTURE (J liat. size). parts of Africa. In the Nile Valley its usual breeding-places are the tall mud-cliffsbordering the river. A very different-looking bird to the foregoing is the Africanpileated vulture (A\ i^ileatiis), in which the general colour of theplumage is cliocolate-brown, with the quills and tail black; the naked portion ofthe head and neck being of a purple hue during life. Inthe typical South Africanform the total length of the bird is some 2G inches, ))ut in North-Eastern and Pileated Vulture. SECRETARY-VULTURE. 263 Western Africa there is a rather smaller race, with a relatively longer and moreslender beak, which has been regarded as indicating a distinct species. Comparedwith the Egyptian vulture, Mr. Blanford observes that the present species is farmore vulturine both in its flight and food. Numbers usually collect around acarcase, which is very rarely, if ever, the case with N. percnopteTUs. The differenceis best shown in the fact that both Europeans and

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