. When a kill has been perceived, you see one come flying
along, strong and swift in headlong flight. With the directness of a
thunderbolt he speeds to where his loathsome meal lies sweltering in
the noonday sun. As he comes nearer and nearer, his repulsive looking
body assumes form and substance. The cruel, ugly bald head, drawn
close in between the strong pointed shoulders, the broad powerful
wings, with their wide sweep, measured and slow, bear him swiftly
past. With a curve and a sweep he circles round, down come the long
bony legs, the bald and hideous neck is extended, and with talons
quivering for the rotting flesh, and cruel beak agape, he hurries on
to his repast, the embodiment of everything ghoul-like and ghastly. In
his wake comes another, then twos and threes, anon tens and twenties,
till hundreds have collected, and the ground is covered with the
hissing, tearing, fiercely clawing crowd. It is a horrible sight to
see a heap of vultures battling over a dead bullock. I have seen them
so piled up that the under ones were nearly smothered to death; and
the writhing contortions of the long bare necks, as the fierce brutes
battled with talons and claws, were like the twisting of monster
snakes, or the furious writhing of gorgons and furies over some fated
victim.

It has been a much debated point with sportsmen and naturalists,
whether the eye or the sense of smell guides the vulture to his feast
of carrion. I have often watched them. They scan the vast surface
spread below them with a piercing and never tiring gaze. They observe
each other. When one is seen to cease his steady circling flight, far
up in mid air, and to stretch his broad wings earthwards, the others
know that he has espied a meal, and follow his lead; and these in turn
are followed by others, till from all quarters flock crowds of these
scavengers of the sky. They can detect a dog or jackal from a vast
height, and they know by intuition that, where the carcase is there
will the dogs and jackals be gathered. I think there can be no doubt
that the vision is the sense they are most indebted to for directing
them to their food.

On one occasion I remember seeing a tumultuous heap of them, battling
fiercely, as I have just tried to describe, over the carcases of two
tigers we had killed near Dumdaha. The dead bodies were hidden
partially in a grove of trees, and for a long time there were only
some ten or a dozen vultures near. These gorged themsel