194 
ANIMAL CURIOSITIES 
Indian species, holds ascendancy over its 
brethren by reason of its more powerful 
physique. 
The Pondicherry vulture is by no means a 
common species, and it is rarely that more 
than a pair are seen together. Its nest, built 
amidst the branches of a tree, is made entirely 
of sticks, the interior being lined with smaller 
twigs. 
As the structure is utilized for several 
seasons, and new material is added every 
year, it eventually attains to enormous dimen¬ 
sions, one being recorded that weighed 6 cwt. 
From the point of view of utility as a 
scavenger, the Egyptian vulture or “ Pharaoh’s- 
chicken ” is probably the most efficient of all, 
for no substance is of too disgusting a nature 
for it to feed upon. Indeed, it has been 
described as the foulest-feeding bird that 
lives. 
It is a comparatively small species, only 
measuring about thirty inches in length, while 
its plumage is mostly creamy-white in colour, 
the tips of the wings, however, being black. 
Sometimes spoken of as the white scavenger 
vulture, the bird was frequently depicted upon 
the monuments of the ancient Egyptians. 
Its nest, which may be built in a tree, on the 
bare rock, or even on buildings in the outskirts 
