THE PONDIGHERRF VULTURE. 



23 



not by any feeling of community, but by the attraction of a dead animal on which they are 

 glad to feed, whether in company or alone. 



The Sociable Vulture is a handsome and a large bird. Its length is about four feet, and 

 the measurement of its expanded wings is rather more than ten feet. The general color of its 

 feathers is black-brown, from which circumstance it is called by the colonists the Black Car- 

 rion Bird. The ruff is nearly black, and the feathers of the chest and abdomen are remark- 

 able for their length and narrowness. The naked parts of the head and neck are red, and the 

 skin of the sides of the face droojDS in folds down the neck. This bird is a native of Southern 



PONDICHEERY VULTURE.— F«««r calvus. 



Africa, and by the Hottentots is called T'Ghaip, the "T" representing one of those strange 

 clicking sounds which play so impoi-tant a part in the Hottentot language. 



A FINE example of the genus Otogyps is also found in the Pondicheeet Vtjltuee, a bird 

 which, as its name implies, is an inhabitant of India. 



This is not quite so large a bird as the preceding, its length scarcely exceeding three feet. 

 The generic term, Otogyps, wliich is given to this species and to the sociable Vultures, is of 

 Greek origin, denoting Eared Vulture, and alludes to the folds of skin which arise below the 

 ears and fall for some inches along the sides of the neck. The word "calvus" is Latin, and 

 signifies bald, in allusion to the featherless condition of the flat and broad head of the Pondi- 

 cherry Vulture. It is a tolerably common bird, but is never seen in great numbers together, as 

 it is not at all sociable in its habits, and associates only in pairs. 



The general color of the plumage is a blackish-brown, the naked portions of the head and 

 neck are flesh-colored, and the chest is remarkable for a bunch or tuft of white downy feathers, 

 which marks the position of the crop. 



