540 Mr. P. T. L. Dodsworth on the Vultures 



bevond half an hour, but this short space of time amply 

 suffices for the eutire disposal of the body of a huge bullock 

 or buffalo. After their repast the gorged Vultures lazily 

 flap away and settle on the nearest cliffs, there to digest their 

 food J and to preen their feathers leisurely and clean them- 

 selves. It has been generally sui)posed that these birds 

 never indulge in a wash, but this is an altogether erroneous 

 idea, as we have frequently come across large numbers of 

 them bathing and cleaniug their blood-stained feathers in 

 buffalo-tanks and in mountain-streams. 



A question we have often asked ourselves is, "Whether 

 these huge Birds of Prey are able to procure food daily ? " 

 We have shot them at all times of the day and late in the 

 evenings, when they have been returning to their roosting- 

 liaunts, but have generally found that their crops were 

 quite empty. Judging from these cases, and from various 

 enquiries which we have made, we are convinced that the 

 Vultures, in these parts at any rate, are seldom able to 

 procure food daily, and only have a hearty meal perhaps 

 once or twice in a week — never more often. 



As noticed by Hume, this Vulture delights to breed on 

 the ledges of precipitous cliffs. We have never yet seen a 

 nest on a tree. The largest number of nests which we have 

 found in a single locality was six, but each nest was separated 

 from the other by at least 50 feet. It is, however, by no 

 means unusual to find a solitary nest on a cliff. 



It has been remarked that the nests of this bird vary 

 much in character, and that sometimes there is no nest at 

 all, but we are unable to endorse the latter part of this 

 statement. In all cases we have invariably found the egg- 

 reposing on some kiud of a nest ; usually the structure is 

 a huge irregular platform, composed of thick sticks and 

 twigs, with a central depression, which is lined with grass, 

 feathers, etc. The nests varied from two to three feet in 

 diameter, and the materials composing them weighed from 

 about 50 to 150 lbs. 



So far as our observations go, it would seem that new 

 nests are always built each year. 



