The Treatment of Animals in India 



year ; but the " pariah " dog often has a wretched 

 look, and doubtless suffers much from want, as he 

 has to share his food of carrion with kites, crows, 

 and jackals. Some attempt is made to keep 

 down these ownerless curs, and it is needed, as, 

 with the jackals, they keep hydrophobia alive. 

 If scavengers are needed — which they certainly 

 are at present — their work may well be left to 

 the birds above mentioned, which have not the 

 disadvantage of fostering this dreadful disease. 



The goat, commonly to be seen about the 

 streets, is a cheerful creature, and I do not think 

 it has much to complain of; natives, as I shall 

 have occasion to mention later on, are not 

 wantonly cruel, and the goat is so accommo- 

 dating in its appetite that it is easily fed, and 

 appears in better condition than the cattle and 

 horses. Of sheep I can say nothing in par- 

 ticular, as they are not so much in evidence 

 as in England. 



Poultry run about everywhere, and seem to 



be seldom fed. Except those — a special breed 



— used for cock-fighting, they are not treated 



unkindly as a rule, and are very tame. When 



needed for use, however, I fear they have to 



suffer much, as in the Calcutta market, though 



troughs were affixed to the- spacious coops used 



for their temporary lodgment, these were never 



kept full of water, for the want of which the 



265 



