A 
being almost black. The feathers of the lower part of the back 
and sides of the neck, are of a loose texture, elongated and of a 
slightly lighter hue than the back, and form a conspicuous ruff. 
Feathers of the upper breast lengthened, acutely pointed, some- 
what rigid, and often with the webs a good deal separated. The 
tail feathers are remarkal ly stiff, with the tips much abraded, and 
naked, tipped with extremely stiff hard projecting shafts, re- 
minding one much of the tail feathers of many woodpecke ars. 
T do not know if the fact has been noticed, but I have repeatedly 
seen this vulture use its tail for a fulcrum, much as a wood- 
pecker does, tearing out the entrails of a dead camel with claws 
firmly dug into, and tail hard pressed against the carcass, nay 
T have seen it, when on the ground, tearing to pieces lumps of 
flesh which it held down between its two feet, always as it 
lifted its head, tearing away morsel by morsel, firmly pressing 
its tail against the ground. 
To return, the lower tail coverts are of a shghtly lighter hue 
than any other part except the occiput. The first 5 quills are 
strongly notched on the inner web and the 2nd to the 6th are 
emarginate on the outer webs; both notches and emarginations 
are very high up and near the bases of the feathers. 
Dr. Jerdon says that this bird “is found, though rarely, in 
the Himalayas, occasionally descending to the plains ;’’ but 
this scarcely conveys a correct idea. Throughout the upper 
Doab, the Punjab and Northern Rajpootana, it is found during 
the cold weather ; even as low as Ktawah, I used to see at least 
a dozen and shoot at least 2 or 3 (and i in Ktawah it is very 
wary) every year. turther north, in the Sirsa district for in- 
stance, it is one of the commonest vultures during the cold 
weather, and L have seen 20 of this species with a few of the 
large plains representative of Mrlvus (our Fulvescens No. 3 bis), 
all Ale over @ single camel. In localities where they are plenti- 
ful, they are by no means difficult to approach ; at any rate when 
feeding, I have twice killed two at a shot with a single barrel of 
an ordinary No. 12 fowling-piece with No. 3 loose shot, and 
Mr. Parsons of Sirsa, in shooting for me, (1 happened to be on 
horseback at the raoment and he on foot,) an imperial eagle 
busy with a dead calf, knocked over one of these vultures with 
the same shot that feed the eagle. I have never found any 
difficulty in getting up to within 50 or 60 yards of them in the 
upper Punjaub, when feeding on the ground; and from a dis- 
tance of from 80 to 100 yards, they will let you stare at them 
through binoculars as long as you like. Near Murree in October, 
T saw a large group of them devouring some dead animal in a 
khud (valley) below the road. I saw several at Rawulpindee 
