NATUEALIST IN INDIA. 75 



bones of sheep and cattle were strewn among the cliffs 

 hundreds of feet below ; they were found to be the remains of 

 food carried by the parent-birds from the slaughter-houses of 

 Dugshai or the neighbouring European stations. 



It has long been a vexed question how vultures discover 

 their food. Though divers authorities have pronounced 

 opinions in favour of sight, some again contend that scmt is 

 the means employed, while a third considers both senses are 

 concerned. 



M-r. Darwin says — " Often, when lying down to rest on 

 the open plains, on looking upwards I have seen carrion- 

 hawks sailing through the air at great heights. Where the 

 country is level, I do not believe a space of the heavens of 

 more than 15° above the horizon, is commonly viewed with 

 any attenticm by a person either walking or on horseback. 

 If such be the case,. and the vulture is on the wing, at a 

 height of between 3000 and 4000 feet, before it could come 

 within the range of vision, its distance in a straight line from 

 the beholder's eye would be rather more than two British 

 mUes. Might it not thus readily be overlooked ? When an 

 animal is killed by the sportsman in a lonely valley, may he 

 not all the while be watched from above by the sharp-sighted 

 bird, and will not the manner of its descent proclaim through- 

 out the district, to the whole family of carrion-feeders, that 

 their prey is at hand ?" * 



In illustration of what has just been quoted, I may 

 adduce the following as of familiar occurrence : — ^After a bear 

 or other large animal is killed, the hunter soon finds himself 

 surrounded by rapacious birds, where none were seen before ; 

 they are observed dashing down the glens, and sailing in 



* " Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's ships ' Adven- 

 ture' and ' Beagle,' " vol. iii. (Darwin) p. 223. 



