VULTURES. 
2 57 
the birds are flying at a low elevation that they are able to detect such hidden 
carrion. Not uncommon in the Himalaya at all seasons, the cinereous vulture visits 
the plains of Northern India during the winter, and is in some districts one of the 
commonest of its tribe at that season. Some individuals are of much lighter colour 
than the typical form; but there is every gradation in the colour of the plumage 
from the one to the other. In Bulgaria the breeding-season commences early in 
March; and the young birds are described as ugly in the extreme, being covered 
with brownish grey down, and having a pink cere and pale yellow legs and feet. 
The second European representative of the true vultures is the 
Griffon Vultures. . 1 1 
griflon vulture (Gyps fulvus), of which examples are shown on the 
right side of our plate. 'Together with several other species, it constitutes a genus 
characterised by the somewhat oval and transversely placed nostrils, by the length 
of the metatarsus being less than that of the third toe, and the presence of fourteen 
feathers in the tail. The vultures of this genus range over the whole of Africa 
except the forest-districts of the west coast, the countries bordering the Mediter¬ 
ranean, a considerable portion of Eastern Europe, and thence through Persia to 
India, and so on to Siam and the Malay Peninsula. The griffon, or fulvoos vulture, 
is a very variable species, ranging from Spain and North-Eastern Africa to India 
and Turkestan; the eastern form having a more rufous tinge of plumage. It is * 
specially characterised by the feathers of the rump and lower part of the back 
having a pale centre along the shaft, and by the under wing-coverts being ashy or 
tawny rufous. In the typical form from Eastern Europe the large ruff round the 
throat is white, and the upper-parts of the body ashy fulvous, the rump and lower 
portion of the back being dark brown, with the above-mentioned fulvous centres 
to the feathers, while the wing-coverts are mostly edged and tipped with creamy 
white, and the upper tail-coverts pale ochrey buff. The quills and tail are black ; 
and the under-parts pale creamy brown, with narrow whitish shaft-stripes to the 
feathers. The iris is reddish orange, the cere bluish black, the bill pale horn- 
colour, and the foot leaden grey. The total length of the bird is about 40 inches. 
The Himalayan griffon (G. himalayensis), ranging from the Himalaya to 
Turkestan, differs by the white under wing-coverts; while the African Rtippell’s 
vulture (G. rueppelli), represented in the illustration on p. 258, may ahvays be 
distinguished by the feathers on the lower part of the back and rump being 
brown with broad grey or fulvous margins, instead of with light centres. More¬ 
over, the ruff is yellowish white, and the beak deep orange. The long-billed 
griffon (G. indicus ) is rather smaller than the typical form of the common 
species, and differs from all the rest by its unusually bare head and thin beak, 
and is further characterised by the feathers on the lower part of the back and 
rump being whitish with faint brownish margins. It is an inhabitant of India 
and the countries bordering the eastern side of the Bay of Bengal. An extinct 
griffon vulture occurs in the Miocene deposits of Malta. 
Unlike the black vulture, the European griffon vulture frequents open and 
rocky districts. Regarding its flight, Mr. O. Salvin writes that “ it is a fine 
sight to watch the ease with which the griffon sails through the air; the 
apparently effortless extension of the wings seems amply sufficient to sustain 
its huge body, and no flapping motion is necessary to enable it to mount to 
vol. iv .—17 
