248 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVI. 



controversies have not been uncommon, between ornithologists, as 

 regards the occurrence of certain species in particiilar localities. 

 Hume, for instance, is very sceptical regarding the occurrence of 

 the Golden Eagle (^A. chryscetus) near Kotgarh, in the Simla 

 District, and m fact considers the species sufficiently rare not 

 to deserve a place in the Fauna of India at all, whereas Stoliczka 

 considered the Golden Eagle hj no means rare in the vicinity of 

 Kotgarh, and my personal experience has been that it is to be 

 found practically throughout the Himalayas, in suitable localities, 

 from Kashmir to Garhwal and probably a good deal further east 

 still. 



A good deal of valuable data has been lost to science through 

 sportsmen and ornithologists not being able to recognise the various 

 species they have met with, on the wing. It is not always 

 possible to shoot every specimen met with, for identification, and 

 nor is it desirable, but it is possible to recognise a very large 

 percentage of the Birds of Prey on the wing, with a little practice, 

 and the art once acquired enhances considerably the study of, and 

 the interest in, the various species met with. 



An attempt has been made in these papers to describe the 

 appearance of each species on the wing, but the task is rather too 

 ambitious and the shortcomings only too obvious. 



I trust, however, that the descriptions give some idea of the 

 writer's meaning, and will be found helpful to those who feel 

 disposed to identify birds by their flight and appearance, in the 

 air. 



Types A, B & C. 

 This chapter deals with the Types A, B, C of the Birds of Prey of the 

 Punjab. These three types comprise between them the Osprey, the Lam- 

 mergeyer, the Vultures and the Scavenger Vultures, in all some seven genera 

 and eleven species and all birds of from medium to very large size. Of 

 these again, Types A and C. comprise but one species each, the remainder 

 all going to Type B. 



Neither the Osprey nor the Lammergeyer can possibly be mistaken for 

 any other bird of prey. The curious reversible toe, in a foot in which all 

 the claws are all more or less the same size and no aftershaft to contour 

 feathers are two characteristics which, in themselves, place the Osprey apart 

 from all other diurnal birds of prey. I say diurnal, because the Osprey 

 shares both the above characteristics with the nocturnal birds of prey or 

 Owls, but as it cannot possibly be mistaken for an owl, we need not go 

 into the differences between them. The Osprey also has very long wings, 

 the tips in the closed wing being equal to or even exceeding the tip of 

 the tail. 



The Lammergeyer, on the other hand, can at once be difl'erentiated by 

 his beard. An unmistakable beard of stiff black bristles depending from 

 the chin is the distinguishing mark of this species. 



The Vultures th >ugh unmistakable as such are not so easy to differentiate 

 from each other, but, on the whole, the characteristics of each species are 

 sufficiently well defined to make their identification fairly simple, from a 

 careful study of the keys. 



