A dictionary of British birds : reprinted from Montagu's Ornithological dictionary, and incorporating the additional species described by Selby; Yarrell, in all three editions, and in natural-history journals / compiled and edited by Edward Newman.

George Montagu

Date:: 1866

Credit: A dictionary of British birds : reprinted from Montagu's Ornithological dictionary, and incorporating the additional species described by Selby; Yarrell, in all three editions, and in natural-history journals / compiled and edited by Edward Newman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$UYLER OWL. VULTURE. U, V. [Uyler Owl. — The word not confined to any pai-ticular species. See p. 220.] [Velvet Duck. [Velvet Scoter. I See Duck, Velvet] Velvet Runner.—See Rail, or Water Rail. [Virginian Colin.—See Quail, American.] [Virginian Cuckoo.— See Cuckoo, Ameri- can Yellowbilled. Mr. Eyton calls this bird the Virginian Cuckoo (Rarer Brit. Birds, p. 23.] [Virginian Partridge. — See Quail, Ame- rican.] [Vulture. — A genus of birds, having the head more or less divested o,{ leathers; the beak straight at the base and covered by a cere, sometimes thinly clothed with hair, sometimes naked and carunculated ; tarsi and feet naked ; claws strong, but not much hooked. Feed on carrion and pu- trefying substances: theii’ olfice in hot climates is that of scavengers, clearing away all matter which emits odours or gases injurious to man.] [Vulture, Egyptian.—Yarrell, i. 6; Hewit- son, ii. 5. Vultur percnopterus, Bewick, Br. Birds, i. 51. Cathartes percnopterus, Temminck, Man. d'Ornitli. i. 8. Neophron percnopterus, Selby, i. 4; Gould, Birds of Europe; Yarrell, i. 0.— The following de- scription is made from the specimen lolled in Somersetshire, as hereafter noticed : — “ When killed it measured two feet seven inches in length, and in extent of wing five feet nine inches. From the forehead to the tip its bill measured two inches and a half; the tarsus three inches, and the middle toe, with its claw, the same. Bill brownish black or horn-coloured; the cere (which bulges a little at the base, and oc- cupies half the length of the biU) wine- yellow ; nostrils situated near the middle of the cere, large and open in front. Crowm of the head, cheeks, and throat covered with a naked skin, of a livid flesh-coloured red, willi a few straggling bristles between the bill and eyes, and upon the margins of the mandibles. Ears round, open, and loi'ge. Occiijut and nape covered with a close thick-set white dowm, with small black feathers intermingled. Neck clothed with long, arched, and acuminated fea- thers, forming a kind of ruff, of a deep umber-browm, tipped with cream-yellow. Back and scapulars cream-white ; the lat- ter intermixed and varied with umber- brown. Lesser wing-coverts, nearest the body, deep umber-brown, margined with a paler shade ; these are succeeded b3' tw'o rows of cream-coloured shai’p-pointed fea- thers. Greater coverts umber-browm, varied with cream - white. Secondaries pole umber-brown, with tlieir ti^JS and margins yellowish white. Quills black. Tail wedge-shaped,. umber-brown at the base, with the tips yellowish white, hinder parts mixed with umber-brown. Legs strong and fleshy, of a pale yel- lowish grey. The tarsi covered with a rough reticulated skin. The middle toe having four entire scales upon the last point; the outer and inner toes each with three; hind toe short and strong. Claws blackish brown, strong, and but slightly curved. In the adult state the whole of the plumage, with the excej)tion of the greater quill.s, is white ; the space between the bill and eyes covered with a wiiite dowm; the base of the biU, forehead, cheeks, and throat naked, and of a pale flesh-coloured red; the feathers upon the occiput long and narrow, forming a kind of crest; irides red; legs and feet pale grey.” — Selby, i. 7. A specimen of this Vulture was shot near Kilve, in Somerset- shire, in October, 1825. It has no claim whatever to a place in the list of British birds, but so many authors have included it that it w'ould appear negligent to pass it over without notice.] [Vulture, Griffon.— Yarrell, i. 1; Hewit- son, i. 3. Vultur fulvus, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. 249; Gould, Birds of Europe ; Temminck, Man. d'Omith. i. 5 ; Newman, Zool. 1845, p. 986; Yarrell, Hist. Br. Birds, i. 1; Thompson, Birds of Ireland, i. 84. Gyps fulvus, Savigny, Descr. de I’Egypte, Hist. Nat. i. 71.—“ The head and upper paiis of the neck are covered with a short wiiite down ; the lower jrart of the neck is sur- rounded with long.slender white feathers, which appear to stand out almost perpen- dicularly from the skin and form a kind of ruff; on the breast is a considerable space bare of feathers and covered with shoii dow'n, generally whitish, but often ap- proaeiiing to brown; the priraai-y feathers of the wing, and also the feathers of the tail, are darlc brown, nearly black, but, with these exceptions, all the feathers of the back, breast and wings are brown. 300$