242 THE WORLDS LUMBER ROOM. 



visit to every house in the village to which it attaches itself. 

 At St. Jago, says Mr. Moseley, a flock of kites will come 

 swooping about the ships to pick up garbage, which they 

 seize in their claws with wonderful precision, putting out 

 one foot to snatch the morsel and then bending their heads 

 and eating it at once on the wing. This manoeuvre is not 

 always a safe one, however, as a shark will sometimes snap 

 at the bird's foot and pull it under the water. 



In India, the Bramah kites, or " Bromley kites," as the 

 sailors call them, haunt the ships with similar intent, and 

 are extremely bold. On one occasion, as a ship's steward 

 was carrying a hot steak from the galley to the cabin, a 

 kite swooped down on him, caught up the meat with its 

 Toot, and was off again in an instant, leaving the man 

 bespattered with gravy. These kites also frequent the 

 places where the Parsees expose their dead. 



The Argala, or Adjutant, a bird of the stork tribe, has 

 obtained the latter title from the fact of its being a 

 constant visitor to the parade-grounds in India, and pre- 

 sinting a resemblance to the dress and dignified walk of the 

 military officer of the same name. The bird, however, 

 also condescends to make itself generally useful by clean- 

 ing the streets. This it does most thoroughly, for its 

 appetite is large, and it can accommodate a full-grown cat or 

 a leg of mutton without difficulty. 



The great White Stork, about which the Germans and 

 Dutch have so many pretty fancies, is a well-known summer 

 visitor in many parts of Europe, and, besides consuming 

 offal, helps to keep within bounds the swarm of frogs with 

 which Holland would otherwise be over-run. It walks 



