130 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 
seemed to be in equal numbers. In Upper Egypt the 
former greatly preponderated. Hasselquist notices their part 
in Nature’s scheme as follows :— 
“The inhabitants of Egypt cannot be enough thankful to Provi- 
dence for this bird. All the places round Cairo are filled with the 
dead bodies of asses and camels; and thousands of these birds fly 
about and devour the carcases before they putrefy, and fill the air 
with noxious exhalations” (l.c.). 
That the celerity with which Vultures find dead animals 
is marvellous, is true; but I am of opinion that in nearly 
every case they are guided by their acute vision. 
I never could understand how they managed to soil their 
backs, for that part never was pure white, which I presume 
it ought to be naturally. 
5. SHORT-TOED EAGLE, Circaetus gallicus (Gm.). 
I had long had a keen wish to get this large Eagle, and 
as I was returning from Quail shooting, on the 2oth of 
March, at Erment, I was lucky enough to make a very long 
shot at one with a wire cartridge. Perhaps it was the same 
which had waited over us in the lentils, so high up that it 
looked like a Goshawk, with every bar perceptible in that 
clear atmosphere. I have no doubt it had killed the four 
snakes which we found lying together in a field close by. 
For what reason it brought them together, or whether it left 
them to watch us, I cannot divine. It seemed to take a 
great interest in our Quail-shooting, but I never saw it 
attempt to catch one. It proved to bea female, as I ex- 
pected from its large size, for it measured twenty-six inches 
in length, and five feet seven inches in expanse. Its stomach 
only contained a frog. Legs, stone-colour; weight, 3} lbs. ; 
eye, light yellow, but very bright; pupil small; head dis- 
proportionately large. 
