76 



feet blackish, ceral portion of bill ditto. As in other species 

 of Gyps, the adult is distinguished by a white ruff at the base 

 of the neck above ; in the fh-st and second plumage this is re- 

 presented by pointed feathers, paler and more flocose in the 

 young. Plumage of adult above, light greyish bro-wn, slightly 

 margined paler ; below, paler, the feathers lighter along the 

 centre, and of an elongated hastate form — tibise covered with 

 white down, the craw with close dark brown plumes — ridge of 

 the bill broadly yellowish white, the rest dark brown, except 

 the elongated ceral portion, which is blackish ; neck blackish 

 and naked, except a few scattered minute tufts of down. The 

 neck of Gt/ps indicus (adult) is more naked than that of any 

 of the other species of Gyps. The young, in first plumage, 

 has the bill almost wholly yellowish white, including its ceral 

 portion ; the neck clad with white down, wliich almost conceals 

 the dark skin it covers ; crown covered Avith minute plumelets 

 of a less downy quality, every feather with a pale medium 

 streak ; those of the wings broadly pale-margined, lower parts 

 almost uniformly whitish ; the rump (I should remark) is 

 whitish at all ages. The second plumage is intermediate, the 

 dorsal feathers are longer, with the pale central streak to each, 

 narrower and better defined, and the colours are more strongly 

 contrasted. At this age there is a conspicuously lineated 

 appearance throughout, much more strongly marked than in 

 the young, and the neck has feathered downy tufts, much 

 more sparse than in the young of the fu'st year, and again 

 much more copious than in the adult ; crown already bare, the 

 short feathers covering the craw are much paler in the young, 

 and of intermediate colour. Both Gyps indicus and Gyps 

 hengalensis, and also Otogtjps calvus nestle in the vicinity of 

 Calcutta, building a large nest upon high trees, similar to the 

 nests of various eagles and others of the larger Falconidfe, and 

 lay two or three eggs of a dingy white, sometimes freckled 

 with a pale greenish dusky. This description applies to each 

 and all of them." 



