14 BIRDS OF INIDA. 



pi. I, — Gould's Birds of Europe, pi. 4. — Argul H. at ]\Iussooree. 

 * Golden Eagle' of residents at Simla. 



The Bearded Vulture. 



Descr. — Head whitish, -with dark streaks, and a black cheek 

 stripe, and black supercilium ; nape and neck above creamy white ; 

 lower back of neck, back, rump, and lesser wing, black ; the 

 back and rump paler, with white shafts, and tlie coverts with white 

 Btreaks, ferruginous in the young ; greater coverts, wings, and 

 tail, ashy black, Avith darker edges, and white shafts to the fea- 

 thers ; beneath dull orange, or ferruginous, with a more or less 

 marked black gorget or pectoral collar, which, however, is not al- 

 ways present ; the ferruginous hue paling posteriorly below the 

 breast, and becoming albescent on the lower belly and. under tail 

 coverts. 



The immature bird has the head, neck, and plumage generally 

 dark brown, varied with buff. 



Bill horny, irides white, with the sclerotic membrane red, eyelids 

 livid blue, toes bluish plumbeous, claws black. 



Leno-th of a male 46 inches, ext. 9 feet. 12 lbs. in weiorht 

 (Adams). Pallas says up to 20tbs. A female measures above 4 

 feet sometimes, and the expanse of wing 9|- feet. Of one 4 feet 

 long, the Aving is 34 inches. Tail 19; bill o^; tarsus 4i ; mid toe 4. 



This line bird is found in the Himalayas from Nepal to Cash- 

 mere, and also on the Salt and Suliman ranges of the Punjab. 

 I did not observe it at Darjeeling. It extends from the skirts 

 of the hills to the Snowy Eange, and is not uncommon at Simla, 

 Mussooree, and other stations in the N. W. Himalayas. Hutton as- 

 serts that it usually feeds on carrion, and rarely carries off any thing 

 larger than a fowl, wdiich it devours as it flies. Hodgson asserts 

 the same, and savs that it is fearless of man when bent on securing 

 some offal or flesh. Other observers state that it is wary. Dr. 

 Adams states that it preys much on marmots. A bird of this 

 species is noticed by Bishop Pleber, who says (on hearsay, however, 

 I believe), that it was thirteen feet in expanse of wings, and was 

 said to have carried children off from the streets of Almora. In 



