1194. Gyps indicus. The Indian Long-billed Vulture 



Vultur indicus, Scop. Del. Flor. et Faun. Insub. ii, p. 85 (1786) ; 

 Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 77. 



Gyps bengalensis, apud J. E. Gray in Hardw. III. Ind. ZooL i, pi. 15 ; 

 nee Gin. 



Gyps indicus, Blyth, Cat. p. 33, partim ; Horsf. $ M. Cat. i, p. 4, pt. ; 

 Jerdon, B. I. i, p. 9, pt. ; id. Ibis, 1871, p. 235 ; Hume, Rough 

 Notes, p. 21 ; id. N. $ E. p. 5; id. Cat. no. 4 ; Adam, S. F. i, 

 p. 367 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. i, p. 10, pt. ; Davidson # Wend. 

 S. F. vii, p. 72 ; Tidal, S. F. ix, p. 29 ; Davison, S. F. x, p. 332. 



Gyps pallescens, Hume, S. F. i, p. 150 (1873) ; vii, pp. 165, 325 ; id. 

 Cat. no. 4 bis; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. i, p. 11; Butler, S. F. iii, 

 p. 442 ; ix, p. 369 ; Bingham, S. F. viii, p. 190 ; Davidson, S. F. 

 x, p. 285 : Swinhoe fy Barnes, Ibis, 1885, p. 54 ; Barnes, Birds 

 Bom. p. 5 ; id. Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. iii, p. 207 ; Oates in Hume's 

 N. 8f E. 2nd ed. iii, p. 203. 



Gidh, H. ; Gidad, Maha-dho, Mahr. 



Coloration. Adult. Short brownish-white hair- like feathers 

 thinly sprinkled all round the head and on the nape ; upper half 

 of back and sides of neck, and all the front, with small tufts of 

 white down scattered over them; ruff disintegrated, soft and 

 white; back pale brown, upper wing-coverts still paler, all the 

 feathers palest on their edges ; lower back and rump brown, with 

 broad white borders to the feathers, sometimes whitish throughout; 

 upper tail-coverts darker brown, pale-edged ; larger wing-coverts 

 and scapulars the same ; quills and tail-feathers blackish brown ; 

 crop generally uniform dark brown, but sometimes light brown or 

 even white ; lower parts whity brown, with indistinct broad pale 

 shaft-stripes. 



Young very like that of G. himalayensis; the head and nape 

 more thickly clad than in the adult; a ruff of long lanceolate 

 feathers, whitish, with brown edges at each side ; upper back, 

 smaller scapulars, and wing-coverts dark brown, with narrow 

 whitish shaft-stripes ; lower back and rump whitish ; quills and 

 tail nearly black ; crop brown ; abdomen and under wing-coverts 

 light brown, with broad whitish shaft-stripes. 



Bill and cere pale greenish, yellowish horny on culmen ; irides 

 brown ; bare skin of head and face dusky ashy leaden ; legs and 

 feet the same ; claws creamy horny (Hume). 



Length about 38 ; tail 11 ; wing 23 ; tarsus 3' 75 ; mid-toe with- 

 out claw 3'9 ; bill from gape 2-8. 



Distribution. Throughout the greater part of the Peninsula of 

 India, south of the Indo-Gangetic plain not in Sind nor in 

 Ceylon. 



Habits, $c. The Long-billed Vulture breeds from December to 

 February in colonies on precipitous cliffs, laying a single egg, 

 greenish white, generally unspotted, sometimes spotted or blotched 

 with reddish brown, and measuring about 3*61 by 2-72. 



