VULTURIN^. 5 



were those to discover the piece of fresh meat ; but ever and anon a 

 bird at a much lower elevation, but still very high above the earth, 

 would sail past, keenly urged by hunger to a closer investigation, 

 and on his espying the morsel, and moving towards it, others at a 

 greater distance, guided by his motions, would descend lower, and 

 on being certified themselves by seeing their neighbours perhaps on 

 the ground near, would drop down in a series of oblique plunges till 

 they reached the ground also. That vultures, however, have also a 

 strong sense of smell is undeniable ; many experiments are record- 

 ed to show this ; and I have myself frequently seen vultures flying 

 closely, and apparently in an excited and unusual manner, over a 

 copse or thicket in which a putrefying carcase was placed ; but this 

 is discovered only when the bird happens to pass over the spot at 

 no great height ; and I have known concealed carcases escape the 

 ken of the vultures altogether. 



Vultures are divided by Gray, in his List of Genera (1855) into 

 the sub-families VulturinoB, Sarcoramphince, and GypoMeracinoe^ 

 the Gypaetincs being placed as a distinct family of Raptores. 

 Others include the Lammergeyer among the vultures, as- Gray did 

 in his Illustrated Genera of Birds; and some also place the Secre- 

 tary Bird of Africa as a sub-family of the vultures, which is now 

 generally put into a distinct family. I shall here divide the Indian 

 Vultures into Vulturince, or True Vultures ; JVeophronince, or 

 Scavenger Vultures; and Gypaetince, or Lammergeyers; leaving 

 the SarcorampliincB, or American Vultures, and the Gypohieracince^ 

 or Angola Vultures. 



Sub-Fam. Vulturin^, — True Vultures. 



Bill large, thick, strong, higher than broad, hooked only at the 

 tip ; cere large, nostrils naked, transverse ; head and upper part of 

 neck naked, or covered only with down ; wings long, ] st quill 

 short, 3rd and 4th quills sub-equal, 4th longest ; tail moderate or 

 rather short, with twelve or fourteen tail feathers; tarsus reticu- 

 lated, with some large scuta near the claws. 



The true vultures are birds of very large size, and are most com- 

 mon in the warm regions of Africa and Asia, some of them extend- 

 ing to the hill regions of temperate Asia and Europe. Their 



