242 Mr. J. H. Gnrnev on the [Ibis, 



about them and their capacity, but if we may trust the 

 evidence before us, they are altogether different from the 

 American Vultures, the sense of scent being non-existent. 



In his entertaining ' Animal Life in Africa,' Major 

 Stevenson-Hamilton says : — " After two occasions on which 

 I had happened to shoot crocodiles basking on sand-banks, 

 stone dead with the first shot, so that they lay in perfect 

 natural positions, I took the trouble to visit the carcases 

 every day in order to see what the Vultures did. On one 

 occasion it was a week, and on the other five days, before 

 the birds came near, though as many minutes would barely 

 have elapsed in the case of a mammal lying obviously dead 

 in the bush ere they put in an appearance " (p. 289). 



Similar trials had been made by Dr. F. Gruillemardj who 

 tells us that when a Wildebeest {Connocliivtes) was shot, 

 disembowelled and hid in the hole of an Ant-bear, the 

 Vultures could not find it, although a circle of them might 

 be seen standing round the spot where the offal had been 

 thrown *. 



The same view of the matter is taken by other African 

 writers, e. g. by Sir John Kirk (Ibis, 18G4, p. 314) and 

 Mr. W. L. Sclater (Birds of South Africa, iii. p. 386). 



But it is not only in Africa ihat the sight theory is 

 predominant. It is adopted in preference to that of scent 

 by naturalists in Asia, although it is true that in India 

 writers are not unanimous about it. India is a country of 

 Vultures, and Indian sportsmen when they shoot a deer 

 consider it safe if covered up, but if it is exposed it will 

 probably be eaten by Vultures. T. V. Jerdon, however, 

 more cautious than some, thought that Vultures must have 

 "a strong sense of smell, '^ although in another place he says 

 it has been exaggerated, and in any case he realises their ' 

 acuteness of eyesight. He is here alluding to Gyps fulvus, 

 G. himalat/ensis, G. indicus, and G. tenuirostrisf. 



After all, it may be that the explanation of the uncertainty 

 of behaviour on the part of the Vultures, and the different 



* ' Nature,- Feb. 2, 1905. 



t ' Birds of India ' (Austen's edn.), i. p. 5, liitrod. xvii. 



