1332 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXI. 



Strachey records * it from Kumaon, and Blanford gives (Fauna, B. I. 

 (Aves), iii, p. 320) its range in the Himalayas as extending east as far as 

 Nepal and Sikkim, but I have been unable to trace all the data on which 

 the latter statement was founded. 



The common species in the neighbourhood of Simla is the Himalayan 

 GriflFon, Gyps himalayensis, Hume. And this is the Vulture, not Gyps fulvus 

 that Colonel C. H. T. Marshall mentions (ibid, October 1884, p. 405) in his 

 list of Chamba birds. 



Hume spoke (Rough Notes, p. 21) of the Griffon — his Gyps fulvescens — as 

 the " Vulture of the desert," and it seems only reasonable to conclude 

 that if it had occurred in the N. W. Himalayas, he would surely have 

 mentioned the fact. 



1 see that Colonel Ward includes (J.B. N. H. S. Vol. XVII, p. 728) Gyps 

 fulvus in his birds of Kashmir, where, he says, it is resident in many 

 districts, but on the other hand it is significant that Davidson never saw 

 it there (Ibis, January 1898), and all the Vultures procured by Dr. Abbott 

 (Proc. U. S. N. M. Vol. XVIII, p. 453, and Vol. XXII, p. 210) in 

 that country turned out to be Himalayan Griffons — a totally different 

 species. 



P. T. L. DODSWORTH, r.z.s., m.b.o.u. 



Simla, S. W., Ilth May 1912. 



[In 1 869 Hume described Gyps fulvescens and on account of the knowledge of 

 its distribution then wrote of it "as the Vulture of the desert." Since, how- 

 ever, this vulture has been recorded from Nepal and still later under the name of 

 Gyps fulvus by Colonel Rattray from ThuU and Captain Whitehead from the 

 Kurram Valley. Though Dr. Blandford treated fulvescens as a synonym of 

 fulvus, Dr Sharpe both in his catalogue and hand list considered them 

 distinct giving the distribution of fulvus as " S. and Europe, N. Africa and 

 Sudan," and that of fulvescens as " Afghanistan, N.India" — Eds.] 



No. XVI.— A KITE'S LARDER. 



With reference to Mr. Remington's enquiry in the last issue of the 

 Journal, I do not think it is usual for this species [Milvus yovinda) to make 

 " larders." During a course of observations extending over several years, 

 I have only once come across a " larder." It was in Calcutta where, on 

 a certain tree, a pair of these Kites have bred for several years in 

 succession. From my Office window the nest was not distant more than 

 10 feet, and 1 hal ample opportunities of closely observing the owners. I 

 noticed that the Kites frequently brought dead rats, bones, pieces of 

 meat, and ate them on the edge of the nest, leaving the scraps behind to 



* Is it possible he confused this bird with Gyps hiviuluyensis, Hume ? 



