GYPS. 319 



black, brownish on the scapulars, lower back, and rump ; secondary 

 quills brown with black tips ; ruff inconspicuous, black, the 

 feathers white at the base ; crop-patch dark brown, surrounded, 

 except anteriorly, by white down ; upper thighs and anterior part 

 of flanks white and downy. 



The young are brown above and below ; feathers of the breast 

 and abdomen with paler edges ; under tail-coverts whitish ; the 

 ruff of rather longer brown feathers. The crown of the head is 

 covered with white down. 



Bill dark brown ; cere, skin of head and neck deep yellowish 

 red, a conspicuous naked patch on each side of the crop and a 

 large naked oval area in front of each thigh the same ; irjules red- 

 brown or yellow ; legs dull red (legs china-white, Oates). 



Length about 32 ; tail 10*5 ; wing 23 ; tarsus 4*5 ; mid toe 

 without claw 3'5 ; bill from gape to tip 2-75. 



Distribution. Throughout India and Burma, but not in Ceylon, 

 ranging to the south-east into the Malay Peninsula, Siam, and 

 Cochin China. Rare in the Punjab and Sind, but found in the 

 lower Himalayas. 



Habits, $c. This fine Vulture is nowhere very abundant, usually 

 one or two come to feed on a carcase with scores of Gyps indicus, 

 G. tenuirostris, or Pseudogyps benyalensis ; these, being smaller and 

 weaker, give way before the present species, which is consequently 

 known as the King Vulture. It breeds on trees from the latter 

 end of January to the middle of April, making a large platform of 

 sticks, and laying a pure white egg (spots and streaks are of very 

 rare occurrence in this species) that measures about 3-34 by 2-6. 



Genus GYPS, Savigny, 1810. 



This genus contains several species, and includes several of the 

 common Indian Vultures. The head is narrower and the bill 

 longer than in the two preceding genera ; the naked neck is 

 longer, and there is a well-marked ruff at the base of the naked 

 portion. The nostril is very narrow and vertically (transversely) 

 or obliquely elongate. This genus, too, is distinguished from the 

 other Vultures by having 14 tail-feathers. 



Species of Gyps are found throughout Africa, Southern and 

 South-eastern Europe, South-western and Central Asia. India and 

 Burma. Four species occur within our limits. 



Key to the Species. 



a. Larger : wing 27-31 inches. 



a 1 . Third primary longest; lower plumage 



with narrow shaft-stripes G. fulws, p. 320. 



b'. Fourth primary longest ; shaft-stripes on 



lower plumage very broad G. himalayensis, p. 321. 



b. Smaller : wing 22-26'5 ; bill more slender. 



c'. Crown of head with scattered hairs .... G. indicus, p. 322. 



d'. Crown of head quite naked G. tenuirostris, p. 323, 



