Birds of Lucknow. 65 



No. 1190. VuLTun monachus. Cinereous Vulture. 



A specimen was shot many years ago at Ajgaen near 

 Cnao, and is in the Lucknow Museum. My fr'end, Major A. 

 Newnhum, I.S.C., Cantonment Magistrate, Lucknow, writes 

 to me that, in the spring of this year (1902), he shot one of 

 these birds on the Grass Farm. Beyond these two instances, 

 I can find no record of occurrence here. 



No. 1191. Otogyps calvus. Black Vulture. 



Lat-sir Gidh* [II.]. King or Red-headed Vulture 

 [Europeans and Anglo-Indians]. 



Widely spread over the Division, but not in great numbers. 

 "Wheresoever the carcase is, thither will the Eagles [Vul- 

 tures] be gathered together," and amongst the wrangling 

 crew there is sure to be one, if not two, of these fine birds. 

 Often I have been watching the vulgar white-backed herd, 

 with a disreputable following of Kites and Crows, tearing 

 and fighting over a body, when one of these aristocrats, in 

 his red cap, black coat, and white waistcoat, has made his 

 appearance. Way is immediately made for him, the plebeian 

 herd slinking back as if ashamed or afraid, and I can never 

 recollect the last comer ever being obliged to assert his 

 authority. 



The breeding-season appears to be in February and March, 

 though it is possibly earlier. I have found nests on several 

 occasions, but, whether it has been merely bad luck or not, 

 those that I have found were either most dangerously placed 

 or empty. To one, at the end of a bare branch of a lofty 

 pepul, my boy-friend Green offered to climb, but I refused 

 to allow him. The next day the c<;^ was abstracted by 

 a daring rival. My shikari Dwarka brought me a very 

 hard-set Vulture's egg from Niigauin, near Ataria, on 

 Dec. 0, L900. He declared that h • saw the bird on the 

 nest before climbing the tree, and, as I have never caught 

 him deceiving me about an egg, I am disposed to pass the 

 tact, though I must own that the date is exceptionally early 

 for Oudh. Thisjlike all Vultures' eggs, is dirty white, with 



* •• < lidb " !.-■ applied to all Vultures. 

 SER. VIII. — Vol.. HI. p 



