216 TULTDEIDJE. 



' almost as numerous as sparrows, particularly near Kotah vil- 

 lages. They fly, wallf, or sit about them all day long. These birds 

 roost on large trees. They sit on the top of the extreme branches 

 perfectly exposed to the weather. The White Vulture here gene- 

 rally, 1 think, nests on rocks, sometimes nearly inaccessible. They 

 accumulate a large quantity of warm soft materials. One nest I 

 had brought down to me, and found it to consist of a most curious 

 mixture of things — cotton, pieces of cloth, goat's hair, sheep's 

 ■wool, large pieces of native blanket, and coir rope. Another pair 

 of these bii-ds had carried an entire sheep's skin with the wool to 

 their nest. 



" One of these nests had some dead frogs lying at the edge ; 

 these were most likely intended for the young. They lay their 

 eggs in the months of March and April, after the first thunder- 

 storms.'* 



Mr. J. Darhng, Junior, says that " this species lays in April. 

 One nest was found at Katy, 2 miles south-east of Ootacamund, 

 about 6800 feet above the sea. Another at Kartary, 6 miles south- 

 east of Ooty, at 5000 feet. The first nest was a niche in a precipice, 

 under the overhanging ledge of rock, in a very inaccessible place ; 

 tie second nest could not be got at. The nest I reached was built 

 upwards into a mound in a corner of the niche. The hollow in 

 which the eggs were was very perfect and round. The nest, or 

 mound, was composed of sticks and twigs, some the size of a man's 

 wrist. The cavity was lined with cotton, coir, sheep's wool,and moss, 

 a great accumulation of rotten bones and other decaying matter 

 scattered about. The bird was ofi: and on engaged in the process of 

 building the nest from June to February, when it stopped, and, 

 shortly before it commenced to lay, began to fill in the lining. The 

 nest was 4 to 5 feet high, about 4 feet broad at the top ; the hollow 

 in which the eggs were was 18 inches in diameter and 6 inches deep. 

 The eggs were four in number, taken in four successive weeks, one 

 a week." 



In shape, size, and colour these eggs vary much. I have one 

 egg, an excessi\'ely long pear, another for all the world like a goose's 

 egg, \vhile others again are as round as an egg of the Honey- 

 Buzzard ; but the normal shape is certainly a rather broad oval, 

 somewhat compressed towards one end. The texture varies a good 

 deal : in some it is coarser than that of any Vulture's egg, and in 

 some there is almost a gloss ; but as a rule the eggs are dull, and 

 of a rather coarse, somewhat chalky, texture, less compact and 

 indurated than in any of the true Vultures. TLey never have any 

 real gloss, but seme exhibit a sort of surface glaze which they 

 lose by washing, as indeed they are apt to do much of their richest 

 colouring. 



In colour the eggs vary from pure greyish or rufous white, with 

 only a few minute reddish-brown specks at one end, to a uniform 

 deep but dingy blood-red, recalling some of the deeper-coloured 

 J-'alcon eggs. Between these two extremes exerj variation in shade, 

 extent, and intensity of markings is found. Evoy possible shade 



