216 



BIRDS IN THEIR RELATIONS TO MAN. 



It was formerly supposed that these birds discovered their 

 food through the sense of smell, but a number of experiments 

 by Audubon seem to prove conclusively that they depend 

 upon sight rather than smell. In one of these experiments 

 "a dead hare, a pheasant, and a kestrel, together with a 

 wheelbarrow full of offal from the slaughter-pens, were de- 

 posited on the ground at the foot of my garden. A frame 

 was raised above it at a distance of twelve inches from the 



TniKEY-nrz/. 

 {After lirch 



ARDS. 



earth ; this was covered with brushwood, allowing the air to 

 pass freely beneath it so as to convey the efiluvium far and 

 wide." Although left for nearly a month, with hundreds of 

 vultures passhig over it daily, none of them discovered its 

 presence. Anotli(>r time a perfectly dry stuffed deerskin was 

 placed in a field, and inunediately attracted the vultures, 

 which were of course unable to get any food. To test still 

 further whcflici' llic bii-ds wciv allractrd by sight alone, ''a 



