Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1899-06-14
vULTUREs OF INDIA.
GIANT BIRDS WHICH ARE NUMEROUS
AND USEFUL.

SS1t 0Ss
When the King vulture Comes to .
Careasa, the Other Varieties Have
to stand on Uatil His Majesty Has
Gorged Himself.
II the city of Bombay had tutelary
bird, there is no manner of doubt what
bird that should be. do not know,
says writer in The Times Of India,
why the ancient Egyptian defied the
ibis but il Bombay bore the. proud fig.
ure Of avulture rampant on her shield
everybody would know why OF all the
unsalaried public servants. who have
identified themselves with this city and
devoted their energies to its welfare no
other can take q place beside the vul-
ture. Unfortunately the vulture has
never lent itself to the spirit Of her
aldry The eagle has, strangely enough,
though the difference between the two
has never been very we'll marked in the
popular mind. The translators Of our
Bible had no notion OF it.
Modern natural history has disan-
tangled the two names and assigned
them to two very different families Of
birds. the distinction between which In
its essenoe is just this-that while the
eagle kills It's prey the less impatient
vultnre waits decsntly till its time
comes to die. Popular sentiment persists
In regarding the former e the more
noble. but there can be no question
which is the more useful.
I It is not easy indeed to realize to one
self the extent and beneacence Of the
work carried ON throughout the length
and breadth Of India from years. end to
years end BY the mighty race Of yul-
tureA 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 one's attention has been
turned 10 the difference between them.
The oommoner Of the two, the white
hacked o. Bengal vu1Eure (Gyps bepga-
ilensis) = 8 smoky black bird, with .
band o6 white extending the whole
Blepgthdk the wings IN the underside.
s This tapd IL broken by the. dark body,
/ ..a,id thai ssrsas 10 distinguish theybini
At glanca
Tho other species is the long billed
vulture (Gyps pallescens) Of Barnes.
Jerdon confounded it with another spe.
oies. Its 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 q distance. A good specimen will
measure over seven feet from tip to tip
Of the winga
There Is one curious difference In
their habita The long billed vulture
breeds always on high cliffs, while it's
Bengal brother Is content TO build its
nest on any tree big enough to bear the
| weight Of such ponderous edifcei
have seen . single mango tree groaning
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 surpassas
the majesty Of its flight The question
has often been hotly discussed whether
birds can sail without tapping their
wings
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
eat motion Of their wings beyond trim
ming them to the wind like the sails Of
q 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
oalvus), royal bird. not indeed larger
than the others, but Of nobler aspect and
prouder character. II appears singly OF
with Its mate and will not oonsort with
the herd. When 1t comes to carcass,
the others have to stand by until it has
dined. There is no difficulty In recog-
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 Ia the foul bird knownat
Pharaoh's chicken, as we'll as by pthel
less reputable names. Its title in scenes
is Neophron ginginianus.
It is one Of the commonest pirdl
about Poonsh and everywhere on the
plains of the Deccan, but seldom visit
the coast. have, however, seen a pail
on more than one occasion about the
aAta II is . white bird. not much big
ger than kite, with only the quill
feathers Of the wing black. Its bill Il
long and thin, its naked face yellow ani
its tail wedge shaped. It's neck is no
bare, but clothed with long, rusty whit,
feathers, pointing backward. It doe
not stand upright. like the true vultures
but carries Its body like duck ant
walks like . recruit. By these sign
you may know Pharaoh's chicken. I
makes its shabby nest of sticks. rags ant
rubbish on trees, ledges Of public build
ings or anywhere about March and lay
two white eggs. more or less blotche,
With brown
no,. coAEaa ,r - With voup