THE VULTURES 2019 



It is, however, only when the birds are flying at a low elevation that they are able 

 to detect such hidden carrion. Not uncommon in the Himalayas at all seasons, the 

 cinereous vulture visits the plains of Northern India during the winter, and is in 

 some districts one of the commonest of its tribe at that season. Some individuals 

 are of much lighter color than the typical form; but there is every gradation in the 

 color of the plumage from one to the other. In Bulgaria the breeding season com- 

 mences early in March, and the young birds are described as ugly in the extreme, 

 being covered with brownish-gray down, and having a pink cere and pale yellow 

 legs and feet. 



The second European representative of the true vultures is the 

 j griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus), of which examples are shown on the 



right side of our plate. Together with several other species, it con- 

 stitutes a genus characterized by the somewhat oval and transversely-placed nostrils, 

 by the length of the metatarsus being less than that of the third toe, and the pres- 

 ence of fourteen feathers in the tail. The vultures of this genus range over the 

 whole of Africa except the forest districts of the west coast, the countries bordering 

 the Mediterranean, a considerable portion of Eastern Europe, and thence through 

 Persia to India, and so on to Siam and the Malay Peninsula. The griffon, or ful- 

 vous vulture, is a very variable species, ranging from Spain and Northeastern Africa 

 to India and Turkestan, the eastern form having a more rufous tinge of plumage. 

 It is specially characterized by the feathers of the rump and lower part of the back 

 having a pale centre along the shaft, and by the under wing coverts being ashy or 

 tawny rufous. In the typical form from Eastern Europe the large ruff round the 

 throat is white, and the upper parts of the body ashy fulvous, the rump and lower 

 portion of the back being dark brown, with the above-mentioned fulvous centres 

 to the feathers, while the wing coverts are mostly edged and tipped with creamy 

 white, and the upper tail coverts pale-ochrey buff. The quills and tail are black; 

 and the under parts pale-creamy brown, with narrow whitish shaft stripes to the 

 feathers. The iris is reddish orange, the cere bluish black, the bill pale-horn 

 color, and the foot leaden gray. The total length of the bird is about forty inches. 

 The Himalayan griffon (G. himalayensis) , ranging from the Himalayas to 

 Turkestan, differs by the white under wing coverts; while the African Riippell's 

 vulture (G. rueppelli), represented in the illustration on p. 2020, may always be 

 distinguished by the feathers on the lower part of the back and rump being 

 brown with broad gray or fulvous margins, instead of with light centres. More- 

 over, the ruff is yellowish white, and the beak deep orange. The long-billed 

 griffon (G. indicus) is rather smaller than the typical form of the common 

 species, and differs from all the rest by its unusually bare head and thin beak, and 

 is further characterized by the feathers on the lower part of the back and rump be- 

 ing whitish with faint brownish margins. It is an inhabitant of India and the 

 countries bordering the eastern side of the Bay of Bengal. An extinct griffon vul- 

 ture occurs in the Miocene deposits of Malta. 



Unlike the black vulture, the European griffon vulture frequents open and 

 rocky districts. Regarding its flight, Mr. O. Salvin writes that "it is a fine 

 sight to watch the ease with which the griffon sails through the air; the 



