16 EGYPTIAN BIRDS 



undeniable, and it practically does no harm. It 

 takes no toll of lambs or kids, and I never have 

 heard of it snatching up the smallest of chickens. 

 Its food is entirely carrion with the addition, 

 possibly, of an occasional lizard or small snake. 

 Vultures and Kites together are the very best of 

 workmen, for the work they undertake they do 

 absolutely thoroughly. No one has to go after 

 them and clear up what they leave half-done, 

 for they never leave anything half-done, be it 

 a dead camel, or ten dead donkeys, or a mass of 

 putrid offal from the shambles. They come ; they 

 see ; they swallow ; and not one speck or scrap of 

 flesh or sinew will be left to-morrow on all those 

 snow-white bones, and not the slightest sign of any- 

 thing that can putrefy will even stain the ground ; 

 all is cleared away, and all corrupting danger gone 

 by the time they have flown. They will remain all 

 night through and the next day, if the job is a big 

 one, and never dream of charging overtime ! It is 

 doubtless this that makes the natives of Eastern 

 countries so unspeakably careless, as we think, 

 of all sanitary precautions. They know that 

 they need take no trouble ; in a matter of hours, 

 days at most, these winged scavengers will come, 

 save them all bother and trouble, and clear the 



