Some Indian Vultures.



49



the grass plot, where he spent most of the day, only leaving it to

visit the back door for his grub — which consisted of clean, cooked

meat — and to return just before dusk to his roosting quarters.


In course of time he developed a very fine coat of feathers

and one windy day he sailed up in the air against the breeze and

made a tour of the neighbourhood, eventually landing in an adjoining

lane, where I easily secured him and provided against a repetition of

this little entertainment.


He was so exceedingly independent and so well qualified to

look after himself that I never worried much about him, merely

glancing at his perch occasionally to see if he was there.


One morning, however, he did not appear, and on going to his

roosting-box I was greatly distressed to find he had died in the

night, probably owing to the stove, from which he got a certain

amount of warmth, having gone out.


Poor old bird; my garden looked quite hare without his

familiar figure sitting on the perch —always an interesting object.


I don’t know what species he belonged to, but his appearance

was more attractive than that of those one is accustomed to view

in Zoological Gardens, as, presumably, owing to the fact that he was

fed on clean meat and had no opportunities of burrowing into foul

matter, his neck was well-clothed.


[This bird was the Western Hooded Vulture ( Neophron

monachus)— practically a smaller, long-beaked race of the better

known Southern Hooded Vulture ( Neophron pileatus). Mr. Low is

to be congratulated on having possessed a very rare and interesting

pet, and his photographs are probably unique. No others which

certainly represent this species appear to exist.— G. R.]



SOME INDIAN VULTURES.*


By Althea R. Sherman.


The White Scavenger Vulture ( Neophron ginginianus) claims

first consideration. It is a common species, and was seen wherever

I went, except near the coast. From my window in the Cecil Hotel,

Agra, one of them was seen sitting in a bulky nest in a neem tree



From ‘ The Wilson Bulletin,’ No. 90, March, 1915.



