14 BIRDS OF INIDA. 



pi. I. — Gould's Birds of Europe, pi. 4. — Argul H. at Mussooree. 

 * Golden Eagle' of residents at Simla. 



The Beakded Vultuke. 



Descr. — Head whitish, Avith dark streaks, and a black cheek 

 stripe, and black supercilium ; nape and neck above creamy Avliite ; 

 lower back of neck, back, rump, and lesser wing, black ; the 

 back and rump paler, with white shafts, and the coverts with white 

 streaks, ferruginous in the young ; greater coverts, wings, and 

 tail, ashy black, with darker edges, and white shafts to the fea- 

 thers ; beneath dull orange, or ferruginous, with a more or less 

 marked black gorget or pectoral collar, which, however, is not al- 

 ways present ; the ferruginous hue paling posteriorly below the 

 breast, and becoming albescent on the lower belly and under tail 

 coverts. 



The immature bird has the head, neck, and plumage generally 

 dark brown, varied with buff. 



Bill horny, irides white, with the sclerotic membrane red, eyelids 

 livid blue, toes bluish plumbeous, claws black. 



Length of a male 46 inches, ext. 9 feet. 12 lbs. in -weight 

 (Adams). Pallas says up to 201t)s. A female measures above 4 

 feet sometimes, and the expanse of wing 9^ feet. Of one 4 feet 

 long, the wing is 34 inches. Tail 19; bill 3^; tarsus 4^; mid toe 4. 



This fine bird is found in the Himalayas from Nepal to Cash- 

 mere, and also on the Salt and Suliman ranges of the Punjab. 

 I did not observe it at Darjeeling. It extends from the skirts 

 of the hills to the Snowy Range, and Is not uncommon at Simla, 

 Mussooree, and other stations in the N. W. Himalayas. Hutton as- 

 serts that it usually feeds on carrion, and rarely carries off any thing 

 larger than a fowl, which it devours as it flies. Hodgson asserts 

 the same, and says that it is fearless of man when bent on securing 

 some ofial or flesh. Other observers slate that It Is wary. Dr. 

 Adams states that it preys much, on marmots. A bird of this 

 species is noticed by Bishop Heber, who says (on hearsay, however, 

 I believe), that it was thirteen feet in expanse of wings, and was 

 said to have carried children off from the streets of Almora. In 



