232 Mr. Blythes Commentary 
The numbers which I proceed to cite are of course those of 
Dr. Jerdon’s work. 
) 8 -‘>o 2. Vultur calvus (Gould's B. As. pt. xii.). 
/ ' 
That V . imperialis, Tem. (PL Col. 2), should be referred to 
the present species is surely precluded by its superior size and 
the yellow colour of the bill. The actual specimen figured is 
assigned by Professor Schlegel to V. auricularis :—“ Tres vieil 
individu, qui a longtems vecu dans la Menagerie, Afrique.” 
(Mus. des Pays-Bas, Vultures, p. 9.) There is a fine living in¬ 
dividual of V. calvus at present in the Gardens of the Zoological 
Society of London. 
3. Gyps fulvus. 
Professor Schlegel distinguishes as varieties of this species 
Vultur occidentalis, from the warm parts of Europe to the west 
of Italy, and North Africa; Vultur indicus, Temm. (PL Col. 
26), from India; V rueppelli (a well-marked distinct species, 
now living in the Zoological Gardens), from Africa; and V. Jcolbii , 
from South Africa. Mr. Gurney does not acknowledge these 
distinctions, with the exception of Gyps rueppelli ; and a speci¬ 
men which I received as G. occidentalis , from Algeria, was simply 
the female of G. fulvus ; for in the Vulturidce (inclusive, as I 
suspect, of the Polyborince ), unlike the Falconidce and Striyidce , 
the female sex is always the smaller. 
3. Gyps indicus ( verus ). 
Professor Schlegel does not appear to know this well-marked 
species; for he puts V. tenuirostris, Hodgson, as a doubtful 
synonym of G. bengalensis ! The figure by Mitchell, in Gray’s 
‘ Genera of Birds ’ (pi. 3), represents the plumage of imma¬ 
turity. The adult has a white ruff as in G. fulvus , and a very few 
scattered small downy tufts on the bare black head and neck. 
Sig. Antinori notices it (by its synonym V, tenuirostris) as oc¬ 
curring in Central Africa (Catalogo, &c. p. 5). It is the only 
Vulture which I have seen in collections from the Malayan pe¬ 
ninsula, though the late Dr. Theodore Cantor procured G. ben¬ 
galensis at Pinang (P. Z. S. 1854, p. 258). From G. fulvus it 
is conspicuously distinguished by its much smaller size, compa¬ 
ratively slender bill, with the ceral portion of it remarkably 
elongated, and by the head and neck of the adult being quite 
