8 Mil. B. B. SnAEPE ON TKE 



lias a young bird from Oraiee." As far as I can yet j«tlge, it is essentially 

 the vulture of the desert. In richly cultivated tracts, far from any sandy 

 wastes, it is rare ; but in the lower portions of the North-western Pro- 

 vinces and the Punjaub i is common, and in and on the borders of Bha- 

 wulpoor, Bikaneer, Jodhpoor, and Northern Jaipoor it abounds." Cap- 

 tain C. Marshall has found it breeding near Lahore. In Sindh, writes 

 Mr. Hume, " this was the only species of Vulture that I actually shot and 

 identified; but other species doubtless occur. Vultures, however, are 

 very rare in Sindh, compared with what they are in Upper India." He then 

 gives additional evidence as to the distinctness of G. fulvescens (of. Str, 

 F. 1873, pp. 148-150). Common near the Sambhur lake (Adam). 

 Captain Butler, in his paper " On the Birds of Mount Aboo and Northern 

 Guzerat," includes the true Gyps fulvus as " common on the plains," and 

 he says that G. fulvescens of Hume is not very common. Mr. Hume ob- 

 serves that the latter species has been shot by himself at Deesa and Jodh- 

 ])oor, and he has received it from Cutch, Kattiawar, and Sindh. With re- 

 gard to Captain Butler's observation, it is worthy of note that he, a good 

 field-naturalist, is acquainted with two species of Griffon on the plains of 

 North-western India ; and this is an additional argument in favour of the 

 recognition of G. fulvescens. Kumaon {Sir a chey). Nepalese examples col- 

 lected by Mr. Hodgson are in the British Museum. It is said to have 

 been procured by Griffith in Assam ; but Mr. Blyth suggests that, as Mr. 

 Griffith also collected in Afghanistan, the Griffon may have come from 

 the latter place, owing to some misapprehension as to the locality. 

 Upper Pegu. Perhaps occurs here. Cf. Hume, Str. F. 1875, p. 18. 



8. Grps HiMALATENSis. (Map III.) 



G. HiMALAYENSis, Hume ; Sharpe, Cat. B. i. p. 8. 



Hab. Himalaya Mountains from Cabool to Bhootan; breeds in the 

 Himalayas in January, February, and March (Hume). Nepal (Hodgson, 

 Mus. Brit.). " Not common between Gangaotri and Mussoorie ; occasion- 

 ally seen' seated on its nest above the road, but so high up that it was 

 almost out of rifle-shot, and at the opposite side of the narrow glen in 

 which the river there runs. But for the white mark on the rock caused 



by the dung of the bird, I should not have noticed it All the 



nests of this bird which I saw were inaccessible ; and whether they con- 

 tained young or not I could not tell. None of them occurred below Bara- 

 hath; eyry the above referred to was not far from Danguli (Brooks); 

 Major Lloyd noticed a Griffon about the cliffs and valleys of the Geerwar 

 (Kattiawar) which he thinks may be this species (Ibis, 18/3, p. 402). 

 Turkestan ; resident in the north-eastern district " comprising Semiratchje, 

 Issikkul, the Upper Narin, Acksay, Kopal, andVernoe" (Severtzoff, cf. 

 Dresser, Ibis, 1875, p. 97). Its vertical range in Turkestan is "A winter 

 visitant in district 3, a resident in district 4, where it breeds, and probably 

 nests in districts 3, 4, and 6 " (Severtzoff, I. c). (For the explanation of 

 the vertical range, vide Dresser, I. c.) 



