THE VULTURES 2021 



any rate, but one egg is laid in each nest; the ground color being grayish white, 

 upon which there may or may not be dark markings. In some cases the Himalayan 

 griffon takes possession of the nest of an eagle, before its rightful owners have 

 thought about breeding. Gifted with the power of undergoing long fasts, the 

 griffon, when it can obtain sufficient food, is a perfect glutton, Canon Tristram 

 mentioning that he has seen one of these birds which was too gorged to stand, con- 

 tinue its feast while lying on its side. Griffon vultures, both of the common species, 

 and the kind confined to Africa, are exceedingly abundant in Abyssinia. 



The long-billed vulture, which is found all over India, although it does not 

 enter villages and towns, is remarkable for always building in large societies, which 

 commonly include from ten to thirty pairs of birds. Such breeding places are al- 

 ways situated on ledges of cliffs, and one near Ajmir described by Mr. Hume "was 

 a cliff-face some one hundred feet high by three hundred wide, all broken up into 

 irregular ledges, of which the highest overhung all the rest. In among the ledges 

 were a few dwarf banyan trees, whose long bare roots and rootlets hung down, here 

 and there, in dense gray giant skeins. All the ledges, but the uppermost, when 

 looked at from below, seemed garnished with heavy white fringes, the white drop- 

 pings of the birds having run down in close parallel lines in a wonderfully symmet- 

 rical fashion over the weather- smoothed edges of the terraces. Seen from a distance, 

 the whole cliff face seemed mottled with huge patches of whitewash. Bleached 

 bones and dusky quills strewed every little plateau, and nestled in every cranny." 

 The young found at the end of March are described as presenting the appearance of 

 huge unwieldy masses of yellow down, and were so fat that they could not support 

 themselves on their feet for more than a few moments. According to native reports, 

 they do not leave the breeding place until three or four months old. 



India and Africa each possess a vulture, agreeing with the long- 

 1 ' billed griffon in having a white patch on the rump and lower back, but 



differing in having only twelve tail feathers, on which account they are 

 assigned to a separate genus Pseudogyps. The Indian species (P. bengalensis) 

 has the rest of the plumage nearly black, while in P. africanus it is browner. The 

 former is the most common vulture in India, where it is found in immense numbers 

 both in the open country and in towns; it likewise extends to Burma and Malacca. 

 Collecting round the carcass of every dead animal in numbers, these vultures may 

 also at times be seen perched singly on a dead human body floating down the Ganges 

 with their wings widely spread in order to steady themselves while they enjoy their 

 ghastly meal. They breed both on rocks and in large trees, and, like all other Indian 

 vultures, lay but one egg in a season. 



Far less common than the members of the preceding genera are the 

 Eared Vultures . - 



two species or eared vultures, so termed on account of the large naked 



fleshy lappets on either side of the neck. In addition to these lappets, and other 

 fleshy folds about the head, these vultures are distinguished by the completely bare 

 head, and by the length of the middle toe being less than that of the metatarsus. 

 Of the two kinds, the African eared vulture (Otogyps aiiricularis} , which ranges 

 from Abyssinia to the Cape, and occasionally visits the south of Europe, is consider- 

 ably the larger, and is, indeed, only inferior in size to the condor, attaining a length 



