As a matter of convenience it is found advisable to separate the true vultures from the hawk family, although it is difficult to draw any well-marked line of distinction between the two groups , which are intimately connected by the lammergeirs. All the vultures are, however, birds of large size. the males are larger than the females.
The magnificent bird known as the lammergeier, or bearded vulture is the typical representative of a genus in regard to the systematic position of which there has been some difference of opinion among ornithologists. It differs from the true vultures in having the head covered with feathers, instead of being naked or downy, and thereby approaches the eagles. Its general affinities are, however, decidedly with the vultures, among which we accordingly placed it. The true lammergeir, which ranges from the mountains of Southern Europe and North-Eastern Africa through Asia have the presence of black markings on the cheeks. The lammergeier is essentially a mountain-bird, and, in spite of numerous stories to the contrary, appears to subsist mainly on animals not killed by itself and carrion, although it may occasionally attack and kill some of the smaller animals; such at least are undoubtedly its habits in the Himalaya. When on the wing, the lammergeier may be easily recognized by its long pointed wings and tail; and also by its mode of flight, which is even and gliding, with an occasional flap of the wings. When hunting, it skims along the sides of the mountains, following every undulation of the hillside, and working backwards and forwards in regular "beats", so that scarcely anything escapes its search. In the Alps, the lammergeier is now well-exterminated, the last Swiss specimen having been found poisoned in the winter of 1887.
The typical representative of the true vultures, and the only living member of its genus, is the common cinerous or black vulture. this vulture inhabits the countries bordering both sides of the Mediterranean, whence it extends eastwards to India and China. Unlike the griffon vulture, to be next mentioned, this species is partial to wooded districts. It nests generally in trees, although failing these on rocks, and builds a bulky nest of boughs lined with twigs, in which a single large white egg, more or less richly marked with red is laid. Like its kin, the black vulture is a bird of heavy and ungraceful form and a generally repulsive appearance; its habits , when not engaged in feeding, being sluggish and inert, its attitude slouching, and its disposition cowardly. it also resembles its allies in feeding entirely upon dead animals and other refuse; and it is these carrion eating habits which render vultures so invaluable in tropical countries, where the care bestowed upon sanitary matters appears to vary inversely with the rise of temperatures . repulsive and hideous-looking as are a group of vultures assembled round the carcass of a large animal, and gorging themselves to satiety upon it s content, their appearance is very different as they are seen wheeling in circles at a great height in the blue sky of a tropical noon; and no spectacle is more interesting than to watch the vultures flocking up from all parts when some of their number have detected a prey and dropped upon the earth to feast upon it. Much discussion has taken place with regard to the manner in which vultures discover their prey, although it is now ascertained that this is mainly due to their marvelously keen power of sight. Not uncommon in the Himalaya at all seasons, is the cinereous vulture visits the plains of Northern India during the winter, and is in some districts one of the commonest of its tribe at that season. Some individuals are of a much lighter color than the typical form; but there is every gradation in the color of the plumages from one to the other. In Bulgaria the breeding-season commences early in March; and the young birds are described as ugly in the extreme, being covered with browning grey down, and having a pink cere and pale yellow legs and feet. the second European representative of the true vultures is the griffon vulture of which examples are shown on the right side of our plate,. Together with several other species, it constitutes a genus characterized by the somewhat oval and transversely placed nostrils, by the length of the metatarus being less than that of the third toe, and the pressure of fourteen feathers in one tail.
India and Africa each possess a vulture, agreeing with the long-billed griffon in having a white patch on the rump and lower back, but differing in having only twelve tail-feathers, on which account they are assigned to a separate genus.
