'Faculty of Scent in the Vulture, 233 



General Remark. — The whale is of those animals that (no 

 tnatter which species) was once considered worthy to grace 

 the royal table, some portions having been prepared in the 

 most savoury manner for the royal banquets : and historical 

 records inform us, that, in ancient times, when a whale was 

 thrown on any of the British coasts, the spoil was divided 

 between the king and queen ; the king asserting his claim to 

 the head, and Her Majesty to the tail. Several statutes vest 

 the property of a whale caught on the coasts or seas of Great 

 Britain and Ireland in the person of His Majesty, who is, 

 however, to give a proper remuneration to all persons who 

 may be concerned in the capture of such a valuable prize. 



8. Gower Place, London University. 



A SHORT notice of the irtdividual whale, which forms the theme of the 

 preceding paper, will be found in our Number for September, 1828, Vol. I. 

 p. 283. A notice of a male spermaceti whale, captured on the coast of 

 Kent on the 16th of February, 1829, occurs in Vol. II. p. 197—202. 

 The capture of a beak-nosed whale, on the coast near Liverpool, noticed 

 in the end of April, 1829, is recorded Vol. II. p. 391. A useful re*- 

 mark on the structure of the hands of the whale is given Vol. II. p. 457., 

 where it is observed that their flatness, pliancy, great size, and strength, 

 enable the whale to sustain the young closely compressed to its body, 

 as was remarked by Aristotle. An engraving of the species of whale 

 denominated Physeter catodon, is given in Vol. II. p» 477. fig. 1 14. Short 

 descriptive notices of two whales captured on the coast of Norfolk, one in 

 March, 1822, the other on Nov. 23. 1829, and also a notice of a third seen 

 spouting oflP Cromer, Norfolk, in the autumn of 1822, will be found in 

 Vol. III. p. 157. In Vol. IV. p. 163. a short description of one found 

 dead in the Channel, near Brighton, on Dec. 29. 1830, also occurs : this 

 measured 63 ft. in length. And a figure, and a general as well as technical 

 description, of a grampus (i)elphinus O'rca), a species of cetaceous animal, 

 captured in Lynn Harbour on the 19th of November, 1830, will be found 

 in our Vol. IV. p. 339.—/. D, 



Art. III. On the Faculty of Scent in the Vulture. 

 By Charles Waterton, Esq. 



" Et truncas inhonesto vulnere nares." JEneid. lib. vi. 



" And nose demolish'd by a shameful blow." 



I NEVER thought that I should have lived to see this bird 

 deprived of its nose. But in the third number oi Jameson^ s 

 Journal, a modern writer has actually given " An account of 

 the habits of the Turkey-Buzzard ( Fiiltur Aura), with a view 

 of exploding the opinion generally entertained of its extra- 

 ordinary power of smelling ; " and I see that a gentleman in 

 your Magazine (Vol. III. p. 449.) gives to this writer the 



