208 TULTUIilD^. 



I found that in four instances the heu birds had laid again, and in 

 the other two the hen birds were on the nests evidently with the 

 intention of laying again." 



Messrs. Davidson and Wenden remark of this Vulture : — 

 " Commonest at all seasons. D. got its nest wilh a young bird, 

 just able to fly, in the Satara Districts, early in January." 



Mr. Gr. Vidal says : — " The common Vulture of the South 

 Konluaii breeds from October to January. Nests are usually 

 found in mango or silk cotton (Bombax malabaricum') trees. As a 

 ride not more than one nest is seen on each tree, but I once 

 found within a few feet of each other on the same tree a nest of 

 this species and of Neophron giiu/iniamiti." 



Writing from Lower Bengal, Mr. J. C. Parker remarks : — " On 

 the 30th November and 7th December, I robbed several nests of 

 this species and found all the eggs quite fresh. On the 3rd January 

 visited another colony of these birds. Every nest had a chick in 

 it. I had taken some eggs a fortnight before ; these were hard- 

 set." 



Lastly, Mr. Oates notes: — "December 5tJi. All nests searclied 

 on this date contained one young bird each. Nests placed in high 

 peepul-trees near the top. Breeds abundantly in Lovs'er Pegu." 



They Iny normally a single egg. That two eggs may have been 

 found in one nest, I will not take upon myself to deny ; but I 

 have before me now notes of eighty odd nests, and, besides these, 

 1 have had many others examined, of which I took no note at the 

 tiuie, and yet I never met with more than a single egg or a single 

 young one in any nest. In colour, the eggs v^'hen fresh are dull 

 white, with an excessively pale bluish-green tinge. As a rule, they 

 are unmarked ; but at times they are a good deal tinged and 

 speckled, or even blotched, with darker or lighter shades of reddish 

 brown, most usually, I think, chiefly towards the large end. The 

 eggs of this species vary to an amazing extent. Whether, in 

 reality, these eggs vary more than those of the other Vultures, or 

 whether it is that the large series of over a hundred eggs, which I 

 have myself collected, makes the variations more conspicuous, I 

 cannot say ; but the fact remains that I ha\e the eggs of my own 

 taking, of almost (for such a bird) every conceivable size and shape. 

 The cubic contents of one egg (the largest) is certainly two and a 

 half times that of the smallest. One is a perfect pear, another so 

 long an oval as to be almost cylindrical, and one or two are almost 

 spherical ; the normal type, however, appears to be a somewhat 

 broad oval, slightly compressed or pointed towards one end. As 

 a body, they are more oval and less round than those of Otorjyps 

 calvus, while they are rounder and less oval than those of Gy2JS 

 indicus. As above remarked, the majority, though often much 

 soiled and discoloured as incubation proceeds, are of the usual pale 

 greyish or greenish-white colour, and unspotted ; but a certain 

 number, perhaps about 1 in 5, are more or less speckled, spotted 

 and blotched, always chiefly towards one end, with pale reddish 

 brown. One egg only, out of more than a hundred that I have, is 



