3330 THE ZooLocist— DECEMBER, 1872. 
whitebacked vultures (Gyps bengalensis) were breeding. As they made me 
aware of their whereabouts by enlivening the still hours of the night with 
most unearthly screams,—a noise which I was not aware till then was 
produced by them in copula in their nests,—I determined to halt a day for 
the purpose of making investigations into their domestic economy and of 
procuring some of their eggs. While smoking my morning pipe under the 
trees, awaiting the arrival of men who could climb, I noticed that the 
vultures invariably brought branches with green leaves adhering to them to 
build with. Prosecuting my inquiries still further, I found to my surprise 
that they broke off these green twigs from only two trees, notwithstanding 
there were other kinds much more conveniently situated. ‘The trees in 
question were the mango (Mangifera indica) and the jamun (Syryngium 
Jambolanum). The former was covered all over with that well-known 
parasitical plant called “ banda,” so largely used in tanning leather in the 
absence of the babool bark; the latter had quite a whitewashed appearance, 
caused from the chalky droppings of the vultures, and was almost denuded 
of its rich green foliage, so much was it in demand for building purposes. 
It was a sight well worth seeing: the vultures would alight on these trees,— 
most frequently on the jamun,-—sidle up to as near the end of a branch as 
their weight would admit of, break off twigs with a lateral movement of their 
powerful beaks, and then fly off to their nests, where their mates were 
already seated sorting the materials as they were brought. Whilst meditating 
why this predilection was shown for the above-mentioned trees, my men 
arrived, and with them a posse comitatus from the neighbouring villages, 
eager to know what “sahib” this was who was going to examine the nests 
of such dirty birds. On questioning, or rather I should say cross-examining, 
some of the most intelligent-looking men in the crowd, why the “ gidhs” 
only went to the jamun and the mango covered with the above-mentioned 
parasite, I elicited the following curious and interesting facts :—jirst, that 
the yultures invariably build with green wood which they break off, and 
that they never alight on the ground for the purpose of procuring dry sticks, 
as is done by birds generally ; secondly, that the reason the vultures crowded 
so on these trees in particular was because their branches were brittle, and 
consequently more easily broken off. ‘ See,” said an old chowkeedar 
(village watchman), picking up a handful of sticks which had fallen from 
the nests, “all these belong to the jamun and banda; there is not a single 
piece of the ‘aim,’ although the vultures do settle on that tree,” pointing to 
the mango covered with the parasite. It does not do to dogmatize in such 
matters, but I am bound to say that, notwithstanding I spent the greater 
part of the day in watching these birds, they never once alighted on the 
ground, nor did they pay any other tree a visit, as far as I could see. Since 
the above occurrence I have paid considerable attention to the nidification 
of these birds, and I believe their building with green twigs may safely be 
