6 VULTURIN.E, 



very pale fulvous-white, faintly margined with brown ; the mantfe 

 a somewhat pale hair-brown, every feather narrowly, but con- 

 spicuously, centred with fulvous- white ; the quill-feathers and 

 tail-feathers chocolate-brown, darkest on the primaries and rec- 

 trices ; the lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts are nearly 

 pure white, only a few of the longest being tinged with brown. 



In an intermediate stage the crop-patch is intermediate in 

 color between that of th'e adult and of the young, as is also the 

 color and character of the ruff, and indeed of the whole plumage. 



This bird differs at all ages' from bengalensis in having 

 fourteen instead of twelve rectrices. Hume, " Hough Notes." 



With the exception of Sind, this Vulture is common through- 

 out the Presidency. It breeds on cliffs during December and 

 January ; the egg is usually very pale greenish-white, but is 

 occasionally spotted and blotched with pale-reddish or faint 

 purplish-brown. They average 3'61 in length by 272 in breadth. 



GENUS, Pseudogyps, Sharpe. 



Tarsus shorter than middle toe ; tail of twelve feathers. 



Pseudogyps bengalensis, Gm. 



5. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. I, p. 10; Butler, Guzerat ; 

 Stray Feathers, Vol. Ill, p. 442 ; Deccan and South Mahratta 

 country ; Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 369 ; Murray's Vertebrate 

 Zoology of Sind, p. 63 ; Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India ; 

 Ibis, 1885, p. 54 ; Hume's Scrap Book, p, 26. 



THE WHITE-BACKED VULTURE, 

 Gidh, Hin. 



Length, 33 to 37 ; expanse, 83 to 88 ; wing, 22 to 24 ; tail, 

 9 to 11 ; tarsus, 3'5 to 3*9; bill from gape, 2'65 to 2'9 : weight, 

 9 to 13 Ibs. 



Bill horny, dusky on cere; irides red-brown; legs dusky- 

 black. 



Adult : above cinereous-black ; back and rump white, beneath 

 dark -brown ; the feathers centred lighter ; the short feathers of 

 the crop deep-brown ; ruff whitish, the feathers short and downy ; 

 head and neck nearly bare, with a few scattered hair-like feathers. 



The young is paler, with the head and neck more or less clothed 

 with whitish down; bill and cere horny-black; legs black; 

 irides brown. 



The White-backed is the commonest Vulture we have ; it 

 occurs in great numbers all over the country ; they breed during 

 December, January, and February, choosing lofty trees in the 

 neighbourhood of villages, in the tops of which they make huge 

 platform nests, sometimes as many as twelve or fourteen in a 

 single tree. Jerdon says : " It breeds by preference on rocky 

 cliffs." I doubt this, as I have found the nests on trees, adjacent 

 to cliffs, in every way suitable. I have never found more than a 



