on Dr. Jerdon’s ‘ Birds of India.’ 
233 
naked, with the exception of the few scattered downy tufts 
before mentioned; when younger the neck is also conspicuously 
less clad than in G. fulvus. From G. bengalensis it differs 
altogether; and it has fourteen rectrices , like G.fulvus, whereas 
G. bengalensis has twelve only. 
5. Gyps bengalensis (Gould’s B. As. pt. iii.). 
The African species is doubtfully identical (Ibis, 1865, / 
p. 339). It is a little-known fact that the down of this common 
Indian Vulture is manufactured into powder-puffs and articles 
of costume, being as delicate as any other sort of down so 
used. I have seen in Calcutta heaps of flattened Vulture-skins 
of this species divested of their feathers, in the possession of 
native artisans, who earn their living by manufacturing articles 
of down; and little do most persons who use or wear such 
manufactures suspect the source from which they are derived*. 
6. Neophron ginginianus, (Lath.). N.percnopterus, Sclat. 
P.Z.S. 1865, p. 675, ptm. !9% c f 
In the Gardens of the Zoological Society there were lately 
four white Rachamahs or Neophrons—one from Africa, and three 
from India. They were evidently of two distinct specific races. IZJq 
The African (Lev. Ois. d’Afr. 1.14; Vieillot, Gal. des Ois. t. 2; tcj 
Jard. and Selb. Ill. Orn. pi. 23; Gould’s B. Eur. pi. 3) is 
larger and more robust, the tarsi and toes conspicuously so. 
The corneous portion of the bill is black, and the ceral portion 
is of a reddish-yellow, different from the purer yellow of the 
cheeks; the talons also are black, and the cuneate tail passes 
the tips of the closed wings by an inch or more. In the three 
Indian birds the corneous portion of the bill is of a pale yellow¬ 
ish flesh-colour, as are also the talons ; the ceral portion of the 
bill is of the same yellow as the cheeks ; the points of the closed 
* Mr. F. Moore, in Horsfi eld’s ‘ Catalogue of the Museum of the Hon. 
E. I. Company ’ (i. p. 2), gives, in a note, a quotation from Dr. F. Bu¬ 
chanan Hamilton’s writings respecting “two kinds of Vulture ” in Ben¬ 
gal ; but he is wrong in supposing that Vultur ccilvus is one of those in¬ 
tended. The species referred to by Dr. B. Hamilton are unquestionably 
Gyps indicus and G. bengalensis. Instead of “ screaming and hissing ” 
I would rather use the words inarticulate cackling and snorting; for these 
Vultures have no proper voice ; and the habit as described does not apply 
to G. calvus, which is not gregarious, and feeds in a more lordly style, the 
other birds giving way to it. 
