Sherman — Birds by the Wayside 269 



enger and not too proud to eat human ordure ; but what hv- 

 ing creature do I harm by my tastes ? Certainly I take noth- 

 ing that turns me into a frenzied fiend so that I beat 

 my mate, kill my O'fifspring, and endanger the lives or hap- 

 piness of my neighobrs, nor db I smoke a filthy weed that 

 poisons the air for 'every one near me. Oh, you contempti- 

 ble man ! J have seen you fidl with smoke the ai-r of a small 

 enclosure, where were others of your kind, men and women, 

 unable to escape, who were sickened and gasping in utter 

 misery. So I say unto you, critical man, that unless you can 

 show more decent taste, you have no rig"ht to criticise mine." 

 Besides the White Scavenger at least three other species 

 of Vultures were seen: the Black o-r King Vulture (Ortogyps 

 calvus), the White-backed Vulture (Pseudogyps bengalen- 

 sis), and the I.ong-billed Vulture (Gyps tennirostris) . In 

 most instances they were distant about an eighth O'f a mile, 

 but sometimes no more than half of that distance. As a rule 

 they were in desolate places : along a river bank or about 

 some ruin. Across the fiver from the Massacre Ghat at 

 Cawnpore were several of these birds. While using my bi- 

 noculars I saw one waiting for a dog to finish its repast. The 

 object being devoured looked very human, and my guide af- 

 firmed that it was the body of a man that had drifted ashore 

 some days before. Two human skulls lay directly in front 

 of the Taj Mahal on the banks of tha Jumna River and were 

 detected when the glasses were turned upon some Plovers 

 feeding there. Such ghastly finds are not so surprising in a 

 country teeming with millions of Hindus, whose religion for- 

 bids the burying of the dead, and where the cost of the wood 

 for the funeral pyre is almost prohibitory fcr some families. 

 On the morning of my visit to the bathing ghats of Benares 

 T witnessed two Hindu funerals: the first was that of a 

 woman, and her nearest relative, after walking five times 

 around the pyre, applied the torch ; the other was that of an 

 infant, whose body was weighted with stones preparatory to 

 its being cast into the Ganges, for this is the disposal made 

 of the bodies of Hindu children who die before thev have 



