VULTURES. 275 



I had sat by it for several hours without anything having perceived it, and, getting 

 tired of waiting, moved away two hundred or three hundred yards. I had scarcely 

 done so when a common kite (Milvus ictinus), flying by, caught sight of the meat, and 

 after soaring round once or twice, lit ; he was hardly down when a cinereous vulture 

 appeared at a great height, rapidly descending in circles, which became smaller and 

 smaller as he reached the ground ; he was followed in quick succession by two ravens, 

 another kite, another cinereous vulture, and an eagle (Aquila bonelli, I think), which 

 latter, however, did not light, but kept soaring round and round. 



" In the mean time I stalked to the spot as quickly as possible, and managed to 

 kill a vulture, and then to my surprise, on looking at the sheep, found literally nothing 

 left but the clean-picked ribs, backbone, and head. I feel quite sure that I am over 

 the mark when I say six or seven minutes was the outside limit of the time the vul- 

 tures were on the ground, and one bird not more than half that time. The one I shot 

 was a fine old female, weighing sixteen and a quarter pounds ; the weight of a male 

 I afterwards shot was only fifteen pounds. 



" The length of the female in the flesh was forty-one inches ; from carpal joint to 

 end of wing thirty inches. Vultures do not appear to begin to hunt very early in the 

 morning, but wait until the sun is well up ; and few are to be seen during the extreme 

 heat of the day, which seems to show that they rest at that time. Their power of 

 going without food must be very great, as it is improbable that a comparatively small 

 island like Sardinia supplies enough dead carcasses to give each bird a meal every day. 

 These birds hunt over an enormous extent of country ; the pace with which they soar 

 through the air, when going from one point to another, can only be realized from the 

 inconceivable rapidity with which they pass out of sight on a clear day when flying at 

 great heights." There seems to be no evidence that this species commonly attacks 

 living animals of any kind. 



The griffon-vulture, Gyps fulvus, may be taken as the type of a genus containing 

 three or four good species and as many more doubtful ones, or perhaps moi-e correctly 

 geographical races which are candidates for specific distinction. The griffon is in size 

 and habits very nearly like the preceding species, but differs much from it in color, 

 the large wing and tail feathers alone being black, all other parts quite light-colored, 

 or mottled with light and dark. The nest also is usually placed on cliffs or among 

 rocks, and contains a single large white egg, without spots. Gyps riippelli, indicus, 

 and bengalensis are similar birds, the first from Africa and the two others from India 

 and the Malay peninsula. 



Mr. R. C. Beavan, writing of the vultures of India, says the Bengal vulture 

 "breeds in Maunbhoom in February, choosing for the purpose almost invariably a 

 large semul or cotton tree, which at that time of the year loses its leaves and puts 

 forth its fine scarlet flowers ; hence the nest, which is generally placed at the junction 

 of two large limbs, or at the diverging point of several branches from the trunk, 

 is plainly visible, but not easy to get at ; for the vulture chooses the largest trees it 

 can find, and most of them are smooth, large in girth, and devoid of branches near the 

 ground. The nest is circular, compactly built of fresh twigs with the leaves on. 

 Eggs two, dirty white, frequently blotched with red, which, however, is either blood 

 or dirt, for it is removable by brushing with soap and water. On my way down 

 to the plains from Simla in October, 1866, I came across several of this species, which 

 I have found abundantly distributed in every part of the plains of India hitherto vis- 

 ited by me. On the occasion alluded to, numbers of cattle had been used for the 



