21 
slightly exceed those of any specimens I have measured,* the 
differences are too small to be of much consequence. 
From the true G. Jndicus, this species differs (amongst other 
things) Ist in its much greater size, often weighing fully half as 
much again ; 2nd, in the bright rufous tinge of the lower parts, and 
the conspicuous narrow pale centerings of the feathers there ; 
8rd, in the far more rufous tint of the mantle; 4th, in the thick 
whitish down covering of the nape and whole upper part of 
the neck, back and front, and the comparatively greater abun- 
dance of down on the rest of neck. Altogether, the bird is 
infinitely more massive than Jndicus, but the feet and claws are 
most conspicuously so, the latter being like those of some 
giant, G. Bengalensis, immeasurably blunter and stwmpier, Qf 
I may use such a word,) than those of Indicus. In several 
particulars, the distribution of down on the neck, the lineation 
of the lower plumage, and the greater stoutness and lesser 
elongation of bill, our G. Fudvescens approximates to G. Ben- 
galensis, while, as already noticed, the hill bird and the true 
Indicus are in similar matters more nearly allied. 
The younger birds are sandier and paler than above described, 
but the older they grow, the more richly rufous they become. 
With noble series’ of each of our four species of Gyps before me, 
the marked distinctness of this, in India at any rate, hitherto 
undescribed species, is very striking, the general colour of some 
of the older birds being precisely that of the back and train of 
Buphus Coromandus in breeding plumage. 
In its habits and mode of feeding, it differs in no way from 
Gyps Indicus and Bengalensis, with both of which, as well as 
with V. Monachus, it closely associates. As far as I can yet 
‘ © judge, it is essentially the Vulture of the desert. In richly 
cultivated tracts, far from any sandy wastes it is rare, but in 
the barer portions of the North Western Provinces and the 
Punjaub, it is common, and in and on the borders of Bhawul- 
poor, Bikaneer, Jodhpoor and Northern Jaipoor, it abounds. 
No. 4. Gyps Indicus, (Scor.) 
THE LONG BILLED VULTURE. 
This bird breeds in the latter part of December, January, 
and possibly the early part of February ; by the end of March 
every egg has been hatched off. It always selects, as far as 
* Mr. Marshall I should note, gives the length of the old female shot on 
the nest as 51 inches, and the weight 19°5 lbs. I have never met with any 
specimen so heavy or large as this ; but he may be right. 
