GYPAETUS.
Head feathered; nostrils and cere concealed by bristles; tuft of bristles on chin ; carrion-eaters of solitary habits, inhabiting mountain districts; nest in cliffs; eggs yellowish orange, sometimes blotched with reddish brown.
Gypaetus barbatus barbatus (L.). BEARDED VULTURE. Ger. Lammergeier.
Above black, greyish on quills ; crown and neck rufous cream, hind neck reddish buff, line across forecrown, patch over eye, loves and bristles black ; beneath deep rust colour, occasion ally a few black feathers on throat, axillaries and tail with buff shaft lines. Bill bluish horn with black tip. Legs and feet plumbeous. Iris orange, sclerotic blood red. Tail 12 feathers, wedge-shaped. Wing 715-79o. Bill from cere 48-50 (H.).
Young : head and neck black, some chestnut tips on throat ; beneath browner.
Resident.—N.W. Africa ; Atlas of Morocco, Algeria and Tunis.
G. barbatus grandis Storr. Larger, with numerous black feathers on throat ; a patch of feathers on each side of breast has dark brown edges, they sometimes almost meet in middle. Wing 76o-86o (H.).
Resident.—S. Europe ; Spain, Pyrenees, Alps, Corsica, Balkans, Greece ; east through Asia Minor to Caucasus, and also farther east in Asia ; Egypt. Extinct as a breeding bird in Sardinia and Sicily, and rapidly becoming so in many other localities.