68 TWO YEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 



a fine adjutant {Leptoptilus argala) came winging his heavy flight 

 across the river and aUghted upon the sand within a hundred and 

 fifty yards of us. Standing upon that barren level he seemed of co- 

 lossal size, and his legs were as white as if they had recently been 

 white-washed. I had with me a boy named Jungi, whom Major 

 Eoss had sent to shoot birds for me, who was a very good shot. 

 Knowing that the adjutant would never sufifer me to approach him 

 nearer than one hundred yards or so, I prepared to shoot him 

 ath my rifle, but Jungi asked me to leave the bird to him. He 

 took his gun and walked deliberately across the sand, as if he 

 would pass the adjutant within about fifty yards. The old bird 

 saw a native coming, but did not dream of a trick, and stood still 

 until Jungi reached the point nearest him, threw up his gun, and 

 dropped him dead in his tracks. Upon skinning and dissecting 

 this specimen we found an entire dog in its crop, a small animal 

 of course, bu.t still as large as a full-sized domestic cat, weighing 

 perhaps five pounds. The lower mandibles of the adjutant are 

 thin and springy, and evidently capable of spreading widely when 

 necessary. No wonder these birds are such efiicient scavengers, 

 or that in Calcutta they are protected by law. 



But at last we were done with the Jumna. In three weeks we 

 had killed 26 gavials, for which we had to show 15 skins, 7 skele- 

 tons, and 4 skulls, besides many skins and rough skeletons of large 

 birds. My experience on the river had been simply dehghtful, and 

 I turned away from it with a feeling of sincere regrei 



