[Illustration: THE MONK VULTURE (_Neophron pileatus_).]
[Illustration: AFRICAN VULTURES (_Gyps fulvus_).]
The MONK VULTURE (_Neophron pileatus_) resembles the bird last mentioned
in several respects, but differs from it in many particulars; the beak
being comparatively short and the wings broader; the tail projects in a
straight line; the forehead and the back of the head and nape are covered
with a short woolly growth of feathers; the bare portions of the face and
throat are also larger than in the Scavenger Vulture; the apertures of
the ears are well developed, indeed almost muscular, and the fore part of
the throat is covered with wart-like excrescences. The plumage is of an
uniform chocolate brown, while the soft feathers at the back of the head
are grey. The beak is greyish blue, darkest at its tip; the foot pale
grey, the cere light violet, the bare head and throat are blueish red.
The young are recognisable by the comparative paleness of their tints,
and the dark brown colour of the back of the neck, the smooth skin upon
the throat, and their less conspicuous ears. The length of this species
is twenty-six, its breadth sixty-six inches; the wing measures seventeen
inches, and the tail nine and a half.
[Illustration: THE SCAVENGER, OR EGYPTIAN VULTURE (_Percnopterus
stercorarius_ or _Neophron Percnopterus_).]
The Monk Vulture is met with throughout almost the whole of the African
continent, but is especially numerous upon the banks of the Blue and
White Nile and on the shores of the Red Sea. So common is it in Abyssinia
and Massowah, that large parties are often seen perching about the roofs
and trees, as the crows do with us, or picking up their food around the
houses with the utmost confidence and fearlessness. Before the natives
have left their huts in the morning, these active servants are at the
door, ready to begin their task of cleansing, as soon as the family will
allow them to enter and remove whatever filth may have accumulated. So
extremely feeble is the beak of these birds, that they seem to be almost
entirely dependent upon man for the means of subsistence; and those who
have never visited tropical countries can scarcely imagine how ably and
perseveringly they perform the work that has been assigned to them. The
movements of the Monk Vultures are active, and their habits very social;
even during the breeding season the parties do not separate, but form
settlements upon such groups of suitable trees as are at some distance
from the towns and villages. The nests are usually placed upon the higher
branches, and do not exceed one foot in diameter; they are flat in shape,
and formed of twigs very nicely woven together; the interior is so small
as to be capable of containing but one nestling. The solitary egg is
round, coarse-shelled, and usually of a greyish white, thickly sprinkled
with yellow spots. Both parents assist in the work of incubation, the
male bird relieving his mate during the mid-day hours. The young grow
very slowly, and after leaving the nest, subsist, according to Heuglin,
upon such food as they can pick up on the sea-shore or river banks.