278 BOMBAY DUCKS 



is, like Ally Sloper, a true friend of man. How we 

 should get on without him in that land of primitive 

 sanitation — India — I know not. Secondly, this vulture 

 is, in South India, or, at any rate, in some parts of the 

 Madras Presidency, a sacred bird. 



The ancient Egyptians, also, seem to have held " His 

 Riverence " in high esteem, for several portraits of the 

 nearly allied Egyptian species are displayed in the 

 museum of antiquities at Cairo. 



Before dilating upon the virtues of the noble fowl 

 it is necessary to describe it. The bird is delightfully 

 easy to depict. There is no other creature like unto it. 

 It is about the size of a kite. Its plumage is dirty white, 

 except the tips of the wings, which are shabby black. 

 The neck is covered with feathers, which stick out like 

 the back hairs of a schoolboy. These are, if possible, 

 rather dirtier-looking than the rest of the plumage, and 

 frequently assume a rusty hue. Its bill is yellow, so 

 are its naked face and its legs. 



As " Eha " remarks : " It does not stand upright, like 

 the true vultures, but carries its body like a duck and 

 steps like a recruit." 



There is told a story, which has by this time become 

 quite a seasoned " chestnut," of a keen " griffin " going 

 out with his gun on the day after his arrival at his first 

 station in India. His bag for the day consisted of one 

 Neophron ginginianus. This he sent, on the advice of 

 a fellow-subaltern, to his Colonel's wife, with a polite 

 note expressing the hope that she would accept the 

 results of his first day's shikar. The inventor of this 

 story might read with benefit a certain address de- 



