320 VULTUEIDiE. 



1192. Gyps Mvus. The Griffon Vulture. 



Vultur fulvus, G771. Syst. Nat. i, p. 249 (1788). 



Gyps fulvus, BIytk, Cat. p. 32, partim ; id. His, 1866, p. 232 ; Jerdon, 



B. I. i, p. 8, pt. ; id. Ibis, 1871, p. 285 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. i, p. 5 ; 



Gurney, Ibis, 1875, p. 88 ; Blanf. East. Fers. ii, p. 99 ; Butler, 



S. F. iii, p. 441 ; v, p. 217 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 196; Hume, Cat. 



no. 3 ; St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 149. 

 Gyps fulvescens, Htime, Ibis, 1869, p. 356 ; id. Bovyh Notes, p. 19; 



id. S. i^. i, p. 148 ; id. N. ^' i?. p. 6 ; id. S. F. vn, p. 322 ; id. Cat. 



no. 3 bis; Adam, S. F. i, p. 367 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 218; Butler, 



S. F. ix, p. 369 ; Barnes, ibid. p. 450 ; Davidson, S. F. x, p. 285 ; 



Swinhoe, Ibis, 1882, p. 98 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 4 ; id. Jour. Bom. 



N. H. Sac. iii, p. 207 ; Oates in Hume's N. S^ K 2nd ed. iii, p._203. 



Coloration. Head thickly covered all round with short white hair- 

 like feathers, passing into white down on the neck ; feathers of ruff 

 elongate, lanceolate, whitish, with rufous-brown or fawn-coloured 

 edges, in very old birds dingy white throughout and disintegrated 

 back and wiug-coverts varying from brown with a pinkish tinge, 

 through fawn-coloiu' to pale brown, often particoloured, some 

 feathers darker than others, but all with narrow pale shafts, more 

 or less distinct : rump and upper tail-coverts paler fawn, especially 

 along the shafts and edges ; major coverts, scapulars, and tertiaries 

 dark brown with pale edges ; quills and tail black or blackish 

 brown ; lower parts throiighout, including wing-lining, pinkish 

 brown to ochreous buff, with narrow white shaft-stripes, the short 

 crop-feathers generally rather browner. 



Younger birds are deeper coloured when freshly moulted, and 

 are distingvdshed by having the feathers of the back, scapulars, 

 and coverts pointed and the ruff-feathers dark and elongate. The 

 buft'-coloured. birds appear to be either young or old in worn and 

 faded plumage. 



Bill horny brown or dusky yellowish, paler on the culmen in 

 adults, greenish horny in younger birds ; cere black ; iris brownish 

 yellow ; legs and feet dirty yellow to greenish grey ; 3rd primary 

 longest. 



Length 41 to 47 ; tail 13 ; wing 26-29 ; tarsus 4-5 ; mid toe 

 without claw 4*25 ; bill from gape to point 3*1. 



Amongst the series of G. fulvescens in the Hume collection I 

 can match aU European specimens of G. fulvus available for 

 comparison. It should be remembered that many specimens of 

 Vulture skins in European museums are faded and bleached by 

 exposure : but, so far as I can see, the Indian bird is absolutely 

 identical with the European. 



Distribution. Southern and South-western Europe, Northern 

 Africa, and South-western Asia ; common in Afghanistan, Balu- 

 chistan, the Punjab, Sind, and Eajputana, the range in India 

 extending east as far as Nepal and Sikhim, and south to Khandesh 

 and the Deccan. Ball records the species from Manbhoom, and I 

 once saw a large Vulture, that must, I think, have been this species, 

 on the banks of the Grodavari near Dumagudem. 



