THE EMPIRE OK THE AlK. 447 



in the air, and ,i;t'r back to tlu'ir ]>er('li at nij^lif wit hunt one single beat 

 of their \viu<;s. 



In this family, velocity is only usefnl to the snialler si)ecies, which 

 are, after a fasliion, the purveyors of the larger ; therefore the Egyptian 

 vultures, the turkey-bu/.zards, the urubus, having to execute more 

 varied movements exjx'nd much m(ue force. 



Now, here is the way a vulture s})ends his day upon one or the otlier 

 continent. The hirger si)ecies Inne spent the night perched among 

 rugged and inaccessible rocks, where they gather for shelter from tlie 

 wind, if they have neither eggs nor ycmug ones. The turkey-buzzards 

 and the Egyptian A'ultures have been roosting in tlu' lower regions, 

 they are less tierce and much more intelligent. The sun comes out and 

 dries the dew collected on their feathers; the vultures stretch their 

 wings, limber u}> the Joints and trim the growing (luills with all the 

 care that the maintenance of an essential organ needs. About 7 

 o'clock there are many flappings of the great wings, but without <piit- 

 ting the perch; then they sink their heads between their shoulders and 

 resume their sinister, forbidding' look. Between 8 and 9 o'clock the 

 hreeze begins to rise; once in a while the culture glances into the 

 valley through those nuigniftcent eyes, unique in creation for their 

 power, then with four or five great beats of wing he launches into space. 

 Tie descends some 50 yards on rigid wings, and is tiien in full sailing 

 flight. The smaller species, who are earlier risers, are already at work 

 and searching for food. 



Tiie large vultures sail at heights which vary with the species. The 

 tawny vultures, the Sarcoiami)hes or p<ip(( of South America, gener- 

 ally keep at elevations of ."iOO or 600 yards in the air; they are scarcely 

 visible from the giound. The arriaii vultures, the otogyps, the con- 

 dors usually float much higher: they become (juite invisible. 



The arrian vultures surv^ey the movements ot the tawny vultures, who 

 in turn ha\ <• an eye upon the Egyi)tian vultures, which latter again 

 Avatch the doings of the kites, and esi)ecially of the crows. 



In America the urubus is watched by the turkey-buzzard, the latter 

 b.\ the pojui, and this last by the condor. 



As all these great birds of prey thus establish a c(»ni|)l(Me net-work of 

 ()bservation over the earth, from the mere fact of mutual surveillance, 

 just as soon as a meal is found all the neighbors close by start in that 

 diiection, they are at once followed by the others, and thus they 

 assendjle very rapidly. 



They scent the carcass, is the coiniiioii e\i)ression. In point of fact 

 this is <piite im-orrect, being impossible if the birds are to windward of 

 the dead animal. Their olfactory apparatus is so little deNcloped that 

 it is <|uite insufticient to guide them to a carcass, even close at hand. 

 This may be easily tested by hiding some tainted meat and attracting 

 a \ulture to tln^ neighborhood. He will pass close to it withont find- 

 ing the meal; his sense of smell will not have revealed it. 



