200 



Gyps himalayensis, Hume. The Large Himalayan Vulture. 



Gyps himalayensis, Hume ; Hume, Rough Draft N. fy E. no. 3 ; Cat . 

 "no. 3 ter. 



The Roc, as I have called our largest Himalayan Vulture (long 

 confounded with G. fulvm, Q-mel., of Europe and Africa, the 

 well-known Griffon), lays during the last week in December, the 

 whole of January and February, and the first week in March. As 

 a rule, however, by the end of February the nests contain young, 

 huge, gosling-looking creatures, thickly clad in long dingy yello\v 

 down. 



The nest, where there is one, is ordinarily a huge platform of 

 sticks (at times the property, in past years, of some Eagle or 

 Falcon, which the early nesting Vultures have seized upon long 

 before the rightful owners have even begun to think of their 

 annual matrimonial duties), placed, I believe invariably, on a rocky 

 ledge of some bold precipice in the Himalayas, at least 3000 feet 

 above the sea. At times the whole nest consists of a few twigs or 

 roots, or a little grass, and occasionally the egg reposes on the bare 

 ground. I have never yet heard of their nesting on trees. 

 Though generally gregarious in their breeding-habits, large num- 

 bers rarely appear to breed together. Six is the greatest number 

 of nests I have yet known of in one single locality. In this 

 respect they differ from G. indicus, of which usually from 10 to 

 30 pairs breed close alongside each other. 



West of Nepal they breed in suitable localities ah 1 over the 

 Himalayas ; Mr. E. Thompson mentions having seen their nests in 

 the neighbourood of Nynee Tal. From near Chakrata, an egg has 

 recently been sent to me. My dear friend, Colonel G. F. L. Mar- 

 shall, nearly lost his life examining a breeding-haunt near Kus- 

 sowlee. I have seen their nests in many places in the interior, in 

 Gurhwal, Teree, Bussahir, and Kooloo, and I have had the eggs 

 taken behind Mahasoo and near Narkunda. Long ago, the late 

 Major Cock, who probably took more eggs of this species than 

 any one else, wrote to me as follows : 



"In April 1867 I was at a pic-nic in the Kumara slate-quarries 

 (near Dhurumsala), and there noticed a nest of Gyps fulvus ; the 

 old bird was sitting at the time ; the nest was a mass of sticks and 

 dirt, placed on a shelf of rock under an overhanging precipice. 

 Some idea of the magnitude of the precipice I can give you. 

 When standing at the foot I could not nearly fling a stone up to 

 where the nest was, and yet it was more than halfway down from 

 the top. I got long ropes and hill-men, and a venturous plains- 

 man (hill-men would not look at it) went over. After dangling 

 in mid-air for some time, he contrived to get hold of a creeper 

 with his toes, and by means of that pulled himself onto the ledge ; 

 then creeping along the ledge, he got to the nest, and went quite 

 close to it ; the Vulture at last flew off, leaving a young one covered 

 with dingy yellow down, and looking like a huge gosling. I left 

 the young one, and took measures for securing the eggs in 1868. 



