16 MR. n. B. SHARPE ON THE 



Europe in having a yellow instead of a blackish bill. Mr. Brooks 

 writes (Ibis, 1870, p. 290) :— " The distinction of the dark bill does 

 exist, but only in certain localities in India. When at Delhi the 

 other day I observed that some of these birds had dark bills, 

 others not so dark, and some had light ones. The difference may 

 be due to some peculiarity of climate ; that it is specific I do not 

 believe. I shot one bird at Delhi which has a dark bill and claws, 

 the cere of a deeper colour than the rest of the bare skin, and a 

 few small white feathers on the throat ; but had I chosen, I could 

 also have procured close to this bird one with a light bill, and a 

 complete representative of our more southern bird. In size, pro- 

 portion of wings to tail, and other points these birds vary a 

 little ; and in colour of the bill they vary much. I could not 

 procure a black -biUed one here at Etawah, nor could I at 

 Almorah, which is much further north than Delhi ; but at Delhi 

 the black bills are the rule. The one I shot has a dark bill ; but 

 I saw many others with the point of the bill nearly, or quite* 

 black. 



" Between this and Delhi there must be a part of the country 

 where light and dark bills will be equally common ; and north 

 and west of Delhi there will be a place where the weakly birds 

 with pale bills will never be found. I have no doubt that dark 

 and light-billed birds will sometimes be found breeding toge- 

 ther, a dark-billed male and a light-billed female, or vice versa. 

 Mr. Blyth, not having seen dark-billed birds in India, was 

 quite justified in thinking then that our pale-billed bird was of 

 another species. With the aid of a powerful glass I examined 

 every JVeophron I saw at Delhi ; and few indeed had light bills." 



The above interesting note shows that in all probability the 

 two Neophrons grade into each other ; and it is certain that 

 the range of the two is continuous ; for Mr. Hume writes : — 

 " In Sindh, at Grwader, and at Muscat it swarms wherever human 

 habitations are found, and in the most uninhabited parts, even in 

 the Kelat Hills a pair may occasionally be found." Again, he 

 writes that it occurs throughout Sindh, Kutch, Kattiawar, Jodh- 

 poor, and Eajpootana. Captain Butler says that it is a very 

 common species both on the hills and in the plains near Mount 

 Aboo, and in northern Guzerat. According to Mr. Blyth, it 

 is a summer visitor to Afghanistan; and Mr. Ball has lately 

 noticed it from the Suliman Hills, west of Dera Grhazi Khan ; but 

 he collected no specimens. He wintes, " It was more abundant 



