VULTURES, EAGLES, ETC. 243 



environment is at once advertised by the sight of low 

 hill ranges and numerous neophrons. The absence of 

 the latter from a locality can hardly be a matter 

 of regret to any one, for they are truly " base and 

 degrading" objects. They may sometimes, when 

 at a distance, and flying aloft in brilliant sunshine, 

 present a certain resemblance to Brahmini kites, but 

 any close acquaintance with them, and specially 

 a near view of them as they wander about over 

 heaps of rubbish in quest of their loathsome food, 

 can only tend to arouse a sense of wonder that 

 any birds should have succeeded in becoming so re- 

 pulsive. St Beuve, in writing of Talleyrand, affirms 

 that it takes a great deal of trouble to become 

 wholly depraved, but neophrons have certainly 

 spared no effort to attain that end. There are, of 

 course, tales of men new to the country mistaking 

 them for some strange sort of pigeons, but such an 

 error would imply a lack of observation far exceeding 

 that leading to the confusion of crow-pheasants with 

 game-birds, or of " brain- fever-birds " with hawks. 



Visits from eagles are always welcome events, 

 but are, unfortunately, not very common, and are 

 apt to be very brief, owing to the way in which the 

 crows resent them. Often enough a pair of eagles 

 may be seen spiring about high overhead, but only 

 now and then do any condescend to alight within a 

 garden. At intervals a specimen of Pallas' fishing- 

 eagle, Haliaetus leucoryphus, or of the white-bellied 



