Contributions to the OrnitJiology of India, ^e. 149 



Gi/ps fidvescens. — " Your description of this and the specimen 

 which you sent for my inspection by Captain Marshall agree 

 with the Western Gypsfidvus, in the state that it appears during 

 the first few (probably three or four) years of its life^ but many 

 observations on specimens kept in confinement appear to prove 

 that the Western Gyps fidvus always becomes increasingly pale 

 with age, the longitudinal striae coincidentlyj but gradually, dis- 

 appearing from the feathers of the under surface, and the lan- 

 ceolate feathers of the ruff also gradually disappearing and 

 leaving the rujBF composed of unmixed white down, so that when 

 old, the Western Gyjjs fidvus would seem to bear as much 

 general resemblance in coloration to your Gy2:)S Tiimalayensis as - 

 it does when young to your Gyps fulvescens. The Western Gyps 

 fidvus appears, however, to agree with your Gyps fulvescens in 

 having the third primary the longest, such, at least, is the case 

 with the only four specimens in the Norwich Museum, which 

 have the primai'ies perfect. Of one of these the locality is un- 

 known ; the other three are from Athens, Tangiers, and Abys- 

 sinia respectively. On the whole, my impression is, that your 

 Gyps himcdayensis is a good and distinct species, and that your 

 Gyps fulvescens is equal to Gyps fidvus, but I much wish that 

 specimens of your Gyps fulvescens could be kept for some years 

 in captivity to see if they become pale with age, as is the case 

 with Gypsfulmis. It seems certain that in Gyps fiilvus the 

 average size of male birds is considerably greater than that of fe- 

 males. At least I have always found it so, when I have had 

 occasionally the opportunity of ascertaining the sex of specimens." 

 I confess that I am not yet convinced of the identity of our 

 bird und fidvus of Europe. A marked distinction seems to me 

 to consist in the fact, that the young o^ fulvescens, obtained 

 when only just able to fly, is paler and less rufous a great deal 

 than the adult. And that the oldest birds appear to be the most 

 rufous, whereas the exact converse is the case in fidvus. 



Again, at and in the neighbourhood of Ajmere, where I was 

 detained nearly six weeks towards the close of the E-ajpootana 

 famine, I daily saw thousands of vultures. A dozen times a 

 day I stood within from 50 to 100 yards, minutely and carefully 

 scrutinizing large groups of them through powerful binoculars 

 as they scrambled about gorging themselves, squabbling and 

 " chortling^' over the carcase of some poor bullock or camel, and 

 never once did I see one of the pale birds, or in fact one of what 

 we must hold to be the adults of this species were our rufous 

 birds really the young stage of the truf;. fidvus. Not one old bird 

 out of many thousands ! This, though not at all impossible, is 

 certainly a matter of difficulty ; and it seems to me that either 



