Egyptian Vulture
Neophron percnopterus (Linnaeus, 1758) (2, 0) Category B
Photo © Kris Webb
STATUS
Africa, Eurasia and the Oriental Region. Polytypic.
OVERVIEW
BOU (1971) state two in Somerset in October, 1825 and one in Essex, September 1868. However, of the two in Somerset, one was thought to be a Heron and is now unacceptable.
RECORDS
1). 1825 Somerset Kilve Cliffs, Bridgwater Bay, immature, shot, October.
(R. Jameson, Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal 2: 206-207; G. T. Fox, Zoological Journal 3: 496; P. J. Selby, Transactions of the Natural History Society of Northumberland and Durham 1831: 244-290; G. T. Fox, Zoological Journal 3: 496; Yarrell, 1845; Newman, 1866; J. H. Gurney, jun., Zoologist 1876: 5000; Yarrell, 1871-85; D. Seth-Smith, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 38: 13-14; Witherby, 1920-24; Somerset Ornithological Society, 1988; BOURC (2000), Ibis 142: 177-179; Palmer, 2000; Ballance, 2006).
History R. Jameson, Editor (1827) in the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, Vol. II. pp. 206-207, says: 'Our intelligent friend W. C. Trevelyan, Esq. informs us, that a vulture was shot in June last, at Kilve, near Bridgwater, in Somersetshire. It was first observed walking on a road, and, on being pursued, flew towards the coast of the Bristol Channel, distant about a mile, when it was found sitting on the beach, and shot. It had recently gorged itself with a putrid lamb, which may probably have been the cause of its allowing itself being approached within shot: on opening it for the purpose of stuffing, the smell was excessively offensive. Another bird, apparently of the same species, was seen near the place where this was killed, but it evaded pursuit. The specimen killed measured from the tip of the beak to the end of the tail, 2 feet 3 inches; from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other, 5 feet 6.5 inches. A notice of the interesting fact here recorded, was drawn up by Mr. Trevelyan's grandfather, and appeared in the Newcastle Courant of the 21st October last.'
G. T. Fox (1828) in the Zoological Journal, Vol. III. p. 496, says: 'I have only seen the wood-cut made by Mr. Bewick, from a drawing by Miss Trevelyan, of the bird which was killed at Bridgewater, in 1826, out of two which were seen there. The preserved bird is stated to be in the possession of the Rev. J. Matthew, jun. of Kelve [sic]. I take the present opportunity of mentioning this uncommon occurrence of a Vulture being seen in this country, to excite the attention of some member of our Society to its inspection and description. It is probably the Vultur fulvus of Temminck.'
[In a letter received from Mr. Selby I find that the Neophron percnopterus has been shot in Somersetshire, and has been figured in a forthcoming; number of the Illustrations of British Ornithology. I can not say whether this is the bird alluded to in the text by Mr. Fox, or whether both species have been found in England. - N. A. Vigors.]
Selby (1833 (1): 5) says: 'Since the publication of the first volume of the Illustrations, a bird of this species has been killed upon the western coast of England, in an undoubted wild and natural state, thus entitling it to a place in the list of our fauna, as a rare visitant.
The specimen is now in the possession of the Rev. A. Matthew of Kilve, in Somersetshire, near which place it was shot in October 1825, and who kindly favoured me with the loan of the specimen, accompanied by the following particulars relating to its capture. When first discovered, it was feeding upon the carcass of a dead sheep, and had so gorged itself with the carrion, as to be unable or unwilling to fly to any great distance at a time, and was therefore approached without much difficulty and shot.
Another bird similar to it in appearance, was seen at the same time upon wing at no great distance; which remained in the neighbourhood a few days, but could never be approached within range; and which was supposed to be the mate of the one killed. The state and colour of the plumage of this individual, judging from the descriptions given of the species by Temminck and other authors, indicate a young bird probably of the first, or, at the farthest, of the second year. The livery of the adult (Vultur gingianus of Latham) being of an uniform white, with the exception of the greater quills, which always remain black....Plate A. Represents this bird of the natural size.
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 occupies half the length of the bill) wine-yellow; nostrils situated near the middle of the cere, large and open in front. Crown of the head, cheeks, and throat, covered with a naked skin, of a livid flesh-coloured red, with a few straggling bristles between the bill and eyes, and upon the margins of the mandibles. Ears round, open, and large. Occiput and nape covered with a close thick set white down, with small black feathers intermingled. Neck with clothed long, arched, and acuminated feathers, forming a kind of ruff of a deep umber-brown, tipped with cream yellow. Back and scapulars cream-white; the latter intermixed and varied with umber brown. Lesser wing-coverts, nearest the body, deep umber brown, margined with a paler shade ; these are succeeded by two rows of cream-coloured sharp-pointed feathers. Greater coverts umber-brown, varied with cream-white. Secondaries pale umber-brown, with their tips 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 yellowish-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.'
Yarrell (1845 (1): 7, 2nd ed.) says: 'Two examples of this Vulture were seen on the shores of the British Channel, and one of them, now in the possession of the Rev. A. Mathew, of Kilve in Somersetshire, was shot near that place in October 1825. "When first discovered it was feeding upon the carcass of a dead sheep, and had so gorged itself as to be unable or unwilling to fly to any great distance and was therefore approached without much difficulty and shot. Another bird, similar to it in appearance, was seen at the same time upon wing at no great distance, which remained in the neighbourhood a few days, but could never be approached within range, and which was supposed to be the mate of the one killed".'
Alfred Newton (1871-74 (1): 6, 4th ed.) in Yarrell's British Birds, adds: '...now in the possession of the Rev. John Mathew, of Kilve, Somerset.' Further, p. 7, talking about the 1868 Essex specimen, he adds: 'This bird, as seems to have been the case also with the Somersetshire specimen, is said to have been in immature plumage.'
J. H. Gurney, jun. (1876) in The Zoologist, 2nd series, Vol. XI. p. 5000, dated 9th June 1876, says: 'When at Twizell House, Northumberland, the seat J. P. Selby, who died in April, 1867, at the age of eighty-seven, I saw, among many beautiful paintings by that distinguished artist and naturalist, a large and very finely-executed oil-painting of the Egyptian Vulture, the first, and at that time the only, specimen which had been obtained in England. I allude to this picture, because I have some additions to make to Mr. Selby's account.
The owner of the bird, Mr. John Mathew, of Chelvey, near Bristol (not Mr. A. Mathew) has informed me that it was shot by a servant of his father's; that it was first seen in a field near the house; that it was killed on the cliffs bordering the Bristol Channel, about a half mile distant; and that its supposed mate - alluded to by Selby - was, he believes, only a heron. It was stuffed by Mr. Mathew, and has since found a place in his collection at Chelvey (Crotch, Birds of Somerset, p. 1).
When it was opened, we are told by Bishop Stanley, the smell was exceedingly offensive - a statement for the truth of which I will readily vouch, from what I have myself seen in Egypt. Stanley gives the wrong date, as did Mudie and others, which led Mr. Eyton to suppose that England had been visited by the Egyptian Vulture two years following (British Birds, p. 3).'
Smart (1886: 2) says: 'The first record of the occurrence of this bird, I think, fairly removes it from the list of probable escapes, for the reason that when the Somersetshire bird was shot in 1825, another bird, supposed to have been its mate from the fact that it did not for some few days quit the neighbourhood, had been seen in its company: it seems most improbable that any keeper could manage to lose both of his valuable birds at the same time.
In addition also to a second occurrence in Essex, Mr. Mudie, in his Feathered Tribes, states that two birds of this species were seen at Bridgewater in 1826. It seems, therefore, to be with propriety that the authorities have admitted this bird to the British list, yet not as a British bird.'
D. Seth-Smith, Editor (1917) in the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club, Vol. XXXVIII. pp. 13-14, at the 225th Meeting of the Club held on 14th November 1917 at Pagani's Restaurant, London, says: 'Mr. W. L. Sclater exhibited the first of the only two recorded examples of the Egyptian Vulture or Pharaoh's Chicken (Neophron percnopterus) obtained in the British Islands.
This example was shot by the Rev. John Matthew in October 1825 at Kilve, a village on the Somersetshire coast, about five miles east of Watchet. Mr. Matthew was then a young man and was serving as curate to his father, of the same name.
He mounted the bird himself, and it remained in his possession till about 1874, when he gave it to his son, Mr. C. Mordaunt Matthew, M.B., who in September last presented the bird to the Natural History Museum.
The bird was remounted by Messrs. Cook, taxidermists, about 1880. It is mentioned in the first edition of Yarrell and in all subsequent lists of British Birds, and is therefore of very considerable value and interest.'
Ballance (2006: 135) adds: 'The specimen was destroyed during the Blitz at Bristol.'
Comment P. J. Selby was born on 23rd July 1788 and died on 27th March 1867 according to George Bolam so was only in his 79th year. He would have been in his 87th year in 1876.
2). 1868 Essex Peldon, immature, shot, 28th September, now at the Booth Museum, Brighton (BoMNH 207175).
(C. R. Bree, Field 10th Oct., 1868: 302; C. R. Bree, Zoologist 1868: 1456-1457; C. R. Bree, Field 17th Oct., 1868: 318; Yarrell, 1871-85; Christy, 1890; Witherby, 1920-24; Glegg, 1929; Walpole-Bond, 1938; Hudson & Pyman, 1968; Cox, 1984; Wood, 2007).
History C. R. Bree of Colchester (1868) in The Field of 10th Oct., Vol. XXXII. p. 302, and in The Zoologist, 2nd series, Vol. III. pp. 1456-1457, dated 8th October, 1868, says: 'On the 28th of September last the labourer who had charge of an off-hand farm of Mr. Wollard [sic], of Stanway Hall, situated at Peldon, Essex, had been killing his Michaelmas geese. On going some time after into the yard where said geese had been slaughtered, he saw a strange bird feeding upon the blood. The bird flew away, and the man loaded his gun. Presently the bird came and hovered over the spot, in hopes of another spell at the blood; but his fate was sealed, and he fell dead to the labourer's shot.
I saw the bird next day at the house of Mr. Ambrose, of this place, to whom it bad been sent for preservation. Mr. Wollard [sic] has since kindly furnished me with the above information.
As far as I know, this is only the second instance of the capture of Vultur percnopterus in Great Britain, the first having been shot on the shores of the Bristol Channel, as recorded by Yarrell, Morris, MacGillivray, &c., in 1825.
It is quite possible that it has more frequently visited our shores, though not captured. Mr. Laver, of this town, informs me that many years ago his father, who lived near Burnham, further up the Essex coast than Peldon, had a flock of vultures for several days among the large trees on his farm. They were known by their bare heads, and were most probably the Egyptian vulture.
At all events, this bird must now, I think, be ranked without doubt among the occasional strangers which visit our shores. The specimen now shot was in immature plumage.
As it differs in some respects from all the definitions of this bird, I will detail its description, made by myself the day after the bird was shot: - Length 26 inches; expanse of wings 5 feet 3 inches; carpus to tip of wing 18 inches; tail 10 inches; beak from gape 2¾ inches; tarsus 3 inches; middle toe, without claw, 2¼ inches; claw ¾ths inch; scales on outer toe 2, on middle 3, on inner toe 3, hind toe 1. Beak bluish flesh-colour, with hook black, iris brown; cere blue, with stumpy feathers down to occipital ridge and between the eye and the nasal aperture, which is in middle of beak and oblong, ½ inch long. Ear open and surrounded by stumpy feathers. Crown of head naked, with small downy rudimentary feathers brown and cream-coloured. Upper plumage: - Back of neck brown, each feather tipped with dark cream-colour; nape cream-colour, with dark shaft; back and rump cream-colour; scapularies long, light brown, tipped with light cream-colour; upper tail-coverts cream-colour, tail fourteen feathers, wedge-shaped, the upper feathers brown, broadly tipped with, cream-colour. Wings: primaries dark brown, the third longest; secondaries brown, darker at the tips, but edged on to outer side of the middle of each feather with cream-colour; tertiaries brown, tipped with cream-colour; upper wing-coverts mottled with brown and cream-colour. Under plumage: - Neck and crop dark brown, abdomen light brown, with a few dark feathers; under tail-coverts light cream-colour; under tail-feathers slate-brown, broadly tipped and margined with light cream-colour; wings underneath dark slaty brown, the upper margin beautifully mottled with dark brown and cream-colour; primaries, as seen from below, emarginated or scolloped at their base, and the shafts marked with blue dots.
The Egyptian vulture is common in Spain, and has a wide range, extending through France, Norway, Egypt, (where it is known as Pharaoh's chicken), South Africa, and is abundant in India. Peldon, where this bird was shot, is the next, parish inland to Mersea.'
C. R. Bree of Colchester (1868) in The Field of 17th Oct., Vol. XXXII. p. 318, says: 'Erratum. In my account of the Egyptian Vulture last week, the name of the gentleman whose servant shot the bird ought to have been "Woodward", not "Wollard". The mistake was entirely mine.'
Christy (1890: 162) adds: 'Dr. Bree further states that it was immature, and adds a detailed description. He lent the specimen to Mr. Gould, who figured it in his magnificent Birds of Great Britain. Its bones are now in Mr. Harwood's possession.'
Glegg (1929: 151) adds: 'At Stevens' sale on 8th February, 1910, after keen bidding, the Vulture realised £38.17s.'
Walpole-Bond (1938 (2): 317-318) says: 'Neophron percnopterus percnopterus (L.), recorded in Coward's Birds of the British Isles (First series (1919), p. 306) as having been killed in Sussex during the autumn of 1868 was in reality the one obtained at Peldon, Essex, on the date specified. I wrote to the author for confirmation and found that my surmise was correct. There had been a misprint.'
Accepted locally (Hudson & Pyman 1968: 31; Cox 1984: 98) and by Wood (2007: 59) who states that this specimen is in the Booth Museum of Natural History, Brighton (Acc. No. 207175).
NOT PROVEN
0). 1825 Somerset Kilve Cliffs, Bridgwater Bay, another seen, October.
[BOURC (2000), Ibis 142: 177-179].
History See above.
Comment Misidentified - was a Grey Heron. Not acceptable.
