138 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS 



company with dogs and buzzards, eating and fight- 

 ing for his food. He has many redeemable char- 

 acteristics, however, and chief among these is his 

 love of his offspring. He will hover over and pro- 

 tect his children even with his own life. 



Most scavenger birds, especially the buzzards, 

 are a lazy, cowardly, degenerate set. They origi- 

 nally were not so depraved in their tastes. Since man 

 became the ruler of the beasts, however, Nature has 

 made many new offices and professions in the ani- 

 mal world. One of the chief of these, from the 

 utilitarian point of view, is that of scavenger. And 

 these have been elected from each division of the 

 kingdom: The burying-beetle is the chief scaven- 

 ger of the insects ; the sharks are the scavengers of 

 the fish-world; the alligators among the reptiles; 

 the jackals among the mammals ; while the vultures, 

 buzzards, and kites are the chief scavengers of the 

 bird world. So long have they followed their low 

 profession as scavengers that their talons have 

 weakened, and they are dull, stupid, and unfit for 

 any other work than that which they follow, and so 

 have fallen into slovenly ways that are perpetual. 



