VULTURES. 
259 
griffon, when it can obtain sufficient food, is a perfect glutton, Canon Tristram 
mentioning that he has seen one of these birds which was too gorged to stand, 
continue its feast while lying on its side. Griffon vultures, both of the common 
species and the kind confined to Africa, are exceedingly abundant in Abyssinia. 
The long-billed vulture, which is found all over India, although it does not 
enter villages and towns, is remarkable for always building in large societies, which 
commonly include from ten to thirty pairs of birds. Such breeding-places are 
always situated on ledges of cliffs; and one near Ajmir described by Mr. Hume 
“ was a cliff-face some one hundred feet high by three hundred wide, ail broken up 
into irregular ledges, of which the highest overhung all the rest. In amongst the 
ledges were a few dwarf banyan trees, whose long bare roots and rootlets hung 
down, here and there, in dense, grey giant skeins. All the ledges, but the upper¬ 
most, when looked at from below, seemed garnished with heavy white fringes, the 
white droppings of the birds having run down in close parallel lines in a wonder¬ 
fully symmetrical fashion over the weather-smoothed edges of the terraces. Seen 
from a distance, the whole cliff-face seemed mottled with huge patches of white¬ 
wash. Bleached bones and dusky quills strewed every little plateau, and nestled 
in every cranny.” The young found at the end of March are described as present¬ 
ing the appearance of huge unwieldy masses of yellow down, and were so fat that 
they could not support themselves on their feet for more than a few moments. 
According to native reports, they do not leave the breeding-place until three or 
four months old. 
White-Backed India and Africa each possess a vulture, agreeing with the long- 
Vuitures. billed griffon in having a white patch on the rump and lower back, 
but differing in having only twelve tail-feathers, on which account they are 
assigned to a separate genus— Pseuclogyps. The Indian species (P. bengalensis) 
has the rest of the plumage nearly black, while in P. cifricanus it is browner. The 
former is the most common vulture in India, where it is found in immense numbers, 
both in the open country and in towns; it likewise extends to Burma and Malacca, 
Collecting round the carcase of every dead animal in numbers, these vultures may 
also at times be seen perched singly on a dead human body floating down the 
Ganges with their wings widely spread in order to steady themselves while they 
enjoy their ghastly meal. They breed both on rocks and in large trees, and, like 
all other Indian vultures, lay but one egg in a season. 
Far less common than the members of the preceding genera are 
Eared Vultures. ^ wo species of eared vultures, so termed on account of the large 
naked fleshy lappets on either side of the neck. In addition to these lappets, and 
other fleshy folds about the head, these vultures are distinguished by the completely 
bare head, and by the length of the middle toe being less than that of the meta¬ 
tarsus. Of the two kinds, the African eared vulture (Otogyps auricularis), which 
ranges from Abyssinia to the Cape, and occasionally visits the south of Europe, is 
considerably the larger, and is, indeed, only inferior in size to the condor, attaining 
a length of some 45 inches; the general colour of its plumage is brown, and the 
inner surface of the thigh is feathered. In the smaller Pondicherry vulture 
(0. calvus), on the other hand, the inner surface of the thigh is naked, and the 
plumage black; hence it is often spoken of as the black vulture, although that 
