233 Mr. Blyth's Commentary 



The numbers which I proceed to cite are of course those of 

 Dr. Jerdon's work. 



3. VuLTUR CALvus (Gould^s B. As. pt. xii.). 



That V. imperialis, Tern. (PI. Col. 2), should be referred to 

 the present species is surely precluded by its superior size and 

 the yellow colour of the bill. The actual specimen figured is 

 assigned by Professor Schlegel to V. auricularis : — " Tres vieil 

 individu, qui a longtems vecu dans la Menagerie, Afrique.'' 

 (Mus. des Pays-Bas, Vultures, p. 9.) There is a fine living in- 

 dividual of V. calvus at present in the Gardens of the Zoological 

 Society of London. 



3. Gyps fulvus. 



Professor Schlegel distinguishes as varieties of this species 

 Vultur occidentalis, from the warm parts of Europe to the west 

 of Italy, and North Africa; Vultur indicus, Temm. (PI. Col. 

 26), from India; V. rueppelli (a well-marked distinct species, 

 now living in the Zoological Gardens), from Africa; and V. kolbii, 

 from South Africa. Mr. Gurney does not acknowledge these 

 distinctions, with the exception of Gyps rueppelli ; and a speci- 

 men which I received as G. occidentalis, from Algeria, was simply 

 the female of G. fulvus ; for in the Vulturidce (inclusive, as I 

 suspect, of the Polyborina), unlike the Falconidce and Strigidce, 

 the female sex is always the smaller. 



3. Gyps indicus {verus). 



Professor Schlegel does not appear to know this well-marked 

 species; for he puts V. tenuirostris, Hodgson, as a doubtful 

 synonym of G. bengalensis ! The figure by Mitchell, in Gray's 

 'Genera of Birds' (pi. 3), represents the plumage of imma- 

 turity. The adult has a white ruff as in G. fulvus, and a very few 

 scattered small downy tufts on the bare black head and neck. 

 Sig. Antinori notices it (by its synonym V. tenuirostris) as oc- 

 curring in Central Africa (Catalogo, &c. p. 5). It is the only 

 Vulture which I have seen in collections from the Malayan pe- 

 ninsula, though the late Dr. Theodore Cantor procured G. ben- 

 galensis at Pinang (P. Z. S. 1854, p. 258). From G. fulvus it 

 is conspicuously distinguished by its much smaller size, compa- 

 ratively slender bill, with the ceral portion of it remarkably 

 elongated, and by the head and neck of the adult being quite 



