104 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



boundary line 44. The tedium of the monotonous 

 woods and the dead winter-season was broken but sel- 

 dom by new objects, by no means peculiar to this 

 province, (since most of its natural productions are 

 common either to Virginia or South Carolina), but 

 offering for observation somewhat more frequently. 



The Buzzard (Vultur Aura L.)* is, in .the southern 

 provinces of America, a very common bird. It is the 

 size of a wild turkey, to which at a distance it is not 

 dissimilar in figure and color, so that new-comers have 

 often taken the one for the other. The color of the 

 body is a blackish brown ; the bare and wrinkled fore- 

 head, and the nib, as far as the point, are red. The 

 eyes large, active, and brownish ; before each eye is a 

 large, white callosity set with short bristles. The long- 

 cut nostrils stand wide open on both sides, and are not 

 divided ; the pituitous skin of the nose is reddish, very 

 much folded, thick, and soft. From this distinct struc- 

 ture of the organ of smell, the assertion that the buz- 

 zard can scent carrion many miles, although not 

 proved is made likely enough. The tongue is fur- 

 rowed; its edge and the palate indented backwards. 

 Legs, feet, and talons are not so strong and muscular 

 as with others of the genus which take their prey alive. 

 The buzzard has no need of strength, nature having 

 assigned it dead bodies only, and it never or very rarely 

 ventures against living animals. It is content with 

 filth and carrion, the smell of which would otherwise, 

 in so warm a climate, be injurious. For this reason 

 the bird is nowhere molested, and is suffered to go un- 

 harmed even in populous towns ; it is forbidden by law 



* Buteo specie gallopavonis. Catesby, Carol. I. tab. 6. 



