8 BIBDS OF INDIA. 



some individuals ; length 32 to 36 inches ; wing 24 ; tail 10 ; bill 

 straight to gape 3 ; height 1^ ; tarse 4 ; mid toe 4^. 



The young bird is dull brown throughout. 



The Black Vulture is found commonly throughout India, extend- 

 ing into I^urmah, but is by no means abundant in individuals. 

 It is usually seen solitary, or in pairs, occasionally four or five 

 together, hunting over some rocky hill. It is dreaded by the other 

 common vultures, Gyps Indicus and G. Bengalensis, who always 

 give way to one of these black vultures, as recorded by Buchanan, 

 Hamilton, and Blyth, and as I have frequently witnessed ; hence 

 its Indian name of King Vulture. It is said usually to breed on 

 inaccessible cliffs, but Lieutenant Burgess found its nest on two or 

 three occasions on trees, with a single white egg. 



Vultur imperialis, Temminck, PI. col. 2, may be intended 

 for the young of this bird, and not for V. monachus, as I once 

 imagined. Bonaparte assigns it as the young of V. nubicus, which 

 is a synonym of 0. auricularis (Le Vaill., Ois. d'Afr., pL 9), 

 a nearly allied species from Africa, but as V. imperialis was 

 distinctly said to be Indian, it is most probably the young of our 

 present bird. 



Gen. Gyps, Sav. 



Tail with twelvb or fourteen feathers, bill more lengthened 

 tlian in Vultur, culmen more gradually curving, much rounded and 

 compressed beyond the cere, nostrils oblong, obhque, or transverse ; 

 head and neck clothed with soft down ; the bottom of the neck 

 with a ruff of lengthened feathers. 



3. Gyps fulvus, Gmel. 



Vultur, apud Gmelin — Gould, Birds of Europe, pi. 1 — Blyth, 

 Cat. 133— HoRSF., Cat. 4— V. Kolbi, Daud. 



Laege Tawny Vulture. 



Descr. — Light tawny brown above and beneath, lightest on 

 the rump and thigh coverts ; greater coverts, scapulars, quills and 

 tail, dark brown ; head with some hair-like feathers ; neck above 

 with whitish downy feathers, scanty on the lower neck ; the crop 

 covered with brown short downy feathers, the ruff of lengthened 

 reddish brown feathers. 



