Ill 



he place and disposed of. This process though inferior to 

 cremation, is in some respects better than the ordinary method 

 of burial. It is however, well nigh impossible to overcome the 

 repugnance excited by the flocks of unclean birds always to be 

 seen in the garden, which simply live on human flesh. Our 

 vultures in Port of Spain seem delicate feeders in comparison. 



Another bird which soon makes himself known in Bombay, 

 and indeed throughout the plains of India is Corvus Splendens. 

 He is, as his name indicates, a handsome fellow. His back is a 

 rich gi'ey and he is strongly suggestive of an enlarged English 

 jackdaw. As he is bigger physically, so has he twice the im- 

 pudence of his English cousin. He seems to be absolutely 

 ignorant of fear. He is to be seen wherever man is found. On 

 the roofs of the houses, in the railway stations, inside hospital 

 wards or dwelling houses, his discordant croak is constantly to 

 be heard, as he watches ever on the alert for fragments of food 

 which ho darts down to dispute with dogs, fowls or whatever 

 comes in his way. No kind of ibod is safe. In the Madras 

 Club I have seen one of these crows enter the large dining 

 room and drop down to help himself from the table, when he 

 thought he was unobserved. 



Bombay is the seat of a vigorous Natural History Society. 

 We were most kindly received by Mr. H. M. Phipson, the Hono- 

 rary Secretary, and shown the Museum which he has formed in 

 part of his business premises. He is an ardent naturalist and 

 spends all his spare time iu collecting and preserving specimens. 

 Not the least interesting objects in the Museum were several 

 glass cases of live snakes, with which Mr. Pliipson seemed to be 

 on terms of great familiarity. Indeed the way in which he 

 taxed the temper of the cobras by stirring them up with a stick, 

 made us feel that we were not initiated in the mysteries of snake 

 charming, and we kept our distance accordingly. 



One of the greatest curiosities in the Museum was a crow't 

 nest made entirely of short pieces of telegraph av ire. Whether 

 the birds picked up the fragments or broke them off" is a ques- 

 tion, but on looking at the thickness of the wire, I should 

 incline to the former hypothesis. The Society issues an 

 excellent journal, two numbers of which I hare placed on the 

 table this evening. 



During our stay in Bombay our work took us to various 

 places in the immediate neighbourhood, and the flora pre- 

 sented points of similarity and contrast with our western tropical 

 vegetation. Instead of the cabbage palm which is rare in India, 

 groves of Borassus or Toddy Palm were everywhere to be seen. 

 The natives collect the juice from the spathe and this when 



