New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1898-10-05

work carried on throughout the length
and breadth of India from years end to
years end by the mighty race Of vul-
lures. The writer continues: The vul-
lures that one sees in such numbers on
Malabar hill belong to two species,
which are easy enough to distinguish
when once ones attention has been
turned to the difference between them.
The commoner of the two, the white
backed or Bengal vulture (Gyps benga-
lensis) is a smoky black bird, with a
band Of white extending the whole
length of the wings on the underside.
This band is broken by the dark body,
and that serves to distinguish the bird
at a glance.
The other species is the long billed
vulture (Gyps pallescens) of Barnes.
Jerdon COMPOUNDED it with another spe-
cies. It's general color is brown, darker
or lighter according to age, sometimes
almost Witty brown; but, however
white the underparts may be, body and
wings are alike. The two species are
about the same size and larger than one
would suspect who has only seen them
at distance. A good specimen will
measure over seven feet from tip to tip
of the wings.
There is one curious difference in
their habits. The long billed vulture
breeds always on high cliffs, while it's
Bengal brother is content TO build it's
nest on any tree big enough to bear the
weight of such ponderous edifioe. I
have seen single mango tree grooming
under the weight Of two or three nests
on the other side Of the harbor. Each
nest contains one egg, generally white,
but sometimes blotched with, brown.
Once fairly in the air, no bird surpasses
| the majesty of it's fight. The question
has often been holly discussed whether
| birds can sail without Tapping their
| wings. -, '~r<' Lii --".
The difficulty originated, of course,
with somebody Of that unfortunate class
| who must reason about question of
fact instead Of looking. He demonstrate
| ed that such feat was impossible. The
| vultures kept on doing it all the same,
| and any one may watch them. For
| hours together they will sail in circles,
| or rather in spirals, without the slight
est motion of their wings beyond trim
ming them to the wind like the sails of
a boat. OF course there must be wind.
! There are two other kinds Of vultures
which may occasionally be seen in Bonn
bay. One is the king vulture (Otogyps
calvus), royal bird, not indeed larger
than the others, but Of nobler aspect and
prouder character. It appears singly or
| with its mate and will not oonsort with
the herd. When it comes to carcass,
the others have to stand by until it has
dined. There is no difficulty in reoog-
nizing this species by its deep black col
or, relieved only by two pure white
patches on its thighs and by the blood
red tint Of its bare head and neck. Our
fourth vulture is the foul bird known as
Pharaoh's chicken, as we'll as by other
less reputable names Its title in scence
is Neophron ginginianua
It is one Of the commonest birds
about Poonah and everywhere ON the
plains of the Deocan, but seldom visits
the coast. have, however, seen pair
on more than one occasion about the
flats 1t is white bird, not much big
ger than kite, with only the quill
feathers Of the wing black. Its bill is
long and thin, its naked face yellow and
it's tail wedge shaped. Its neck is not
bare, but clothed with long, rusty white
feathers, pointing backward. It does
not stand upright, like the true vultures,
but carries its, body like duck and
walks like a recruit. BY these signs
you may know Pharaoh's chicken. It
makes it's shabby nest of sticks, rags and
rubbish on trees, lodges Of public build
ings or anywhere about March and lays
two white eggs, more or less blotched
with brown. sss