314 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 193 2 



mer, promised to send me a skin or two. There is much confusion in 

 the minds of amateurs regarding this bird, some believing the Euro- 

 pean lammergeier {Gypaetus harhatus grayidis Storr) to be identical 

 with the north Indian species. There are, however, several distinct 

 varieties of this remarkable bird of pre}'^, the Kirke Swann mono- 

 graph (Accipitres) recognizing five good species. This is not the 

 proper place to stress the point, but the so-called Swiss bird is the 

 species best known to tourists and readers of popular zoological 

 works. Unfortunately, however, this magnificent bird is no longer 

 to be found in its former Alpine haunts, but is confined to the higher 

 mountains of Spain, to the Balkans, and to a few of the Mediter- 

 ranean coast ranges. A few examples also survive in Asia Minor 

 and Persia. 



Stories of the Alpine lammergeier (or of any other vulture) 

 carrying off live goats, chamois, or young children are without foun- 

 dation. Despite its name, it is doubtful whether it has been known 

 to molest even a (healthy) lamb. 



Round about Simla the residents speak of this bird as the " golden 

 eagle." Both Hutton and Hodgson say that its food is usually 

 carrion, sometimes the smaller mammals, and reptiles; it rarely 

 carries off anything alive larger than a fowl, which it devours while 

 on the wing. In spite of the fact that the " eagle " is really a vulture 

 it presents a noble appearance, with its immense spread of wing as 

 it " quarters " the hill tops, floating along in noiseless flight search- 

 ing for food, keeping a few feet from the tree tops or ground until 

 it has beaten the chosen area from top to bottom. 



Comparatively few monkeys are found in the mountain jungles 

 of north India. The Himalayan langur {Semnopithecus schista- 

 ceus) is a long-tailed species living in the cooler elevated regions. 

 It is of a grayish color and sports bushy eyebrows and a chin tuft. 

 It is unusually active and exhibits wonderful leaping powers. 



Innumerable are the stories told about this highly intelligent and 

 well-known monkey. Among tliem is the account given by Mrs. 

 H. C. Eggar in her An Indian Garden. 



A pair of great brown Langours, living in the jungle, come every day 

 along the garden wall, swinging themselves up into the topmost branches of 

 the best mango tree, where they sit defying everybody, breaking off the choicest 

 fruit and eating it before our eyes. The dogs nearly choke tliemselves with 

 wrath, and so do we, standing underneath. Jogee and Poonia and their men 

 hurl stones and abuse at them, none of whicli affects them in the least. The 

 largest one is about 5 feet higli, if standing straight upright, and he sat there 

 in the tree last week, calmly munching his mangoes and throwing us down 

 the large seeds, caring not a pin for Jogee. When a stone came rather near 

 him, he watched it and ducked his head; then changed his position, crossing 

 one leg over the other comfortably, and continued eating. He treated me with 

 the same contempt, though I waved a large white umbrella at him, frantically 



