i887-l Sayles on the Sense of Smell in Cathartes aura. ^ I 



Gosse, Eds. Jain. p. i (1847). — Bryant, Pr. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. 

 VII, p. 104 (1S59) (Bahamas); ib. Brewer, p. 306 (1S60) (Cuba). 

 — Albrecht, J. f. O. 1S62, p. 203 (Jamaica). — March, Pr. Acad. 

 Nat. Sci. Phila. 1S63, p. 150 (Jamaica). — Gundl. Repert. Fisico-Nat. 

 Cuba, I, p. 221 (1865); ib. J. f. O. 1871, p. 253 (Cuba).— Cory, 

 Bds. Bahama I. p. 134 (18S0). — A. & E. Newton, Handb. Jamaica, 

 p. in (1SS1).— Cory, List Bds. W. I. p. 23 (18S5). 



Recorded from the Bahamas, Cuba, and Jamaica. 



Genus Catharista Vieill. 



Catharista Vieillot, Analyse, p. 21, 1816. 



Catharista atrata (Bartr.). 



Vultur atratus Bartr. Trav. Car. p. 285 (1792). 



Cathartes atratus March, Pr. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1S63, p. 151 (Ja- 

 maica).— A. & E. Newton, Handb. Jamaica, p. in (1881). 

 Catharista atrata Cory, List Bds. W. I. p. 23 (18S5). 



This species is claimed to have occurred in Jamaica. No 

 other West Indian record. 



THE SENSE OF SMELL IN CATHARTES AURA. 



BY IRA SAYLES. 



In the 'Standard Natural History,' edited by John Sterling 

 Kingsley, published by S. E. Cassin & Co., Boston, Vol. IV, p. 

 271, in an article written by Walter B. Barrows, I read as 

 follows : 



"The name condor, Humboldt says, is from a word in the 

 language of the Incas, signifying to smell," and adds : 'There 

 is nothing more astonishing than the almost inconceivable sagac- 

 ity with which the condor distinguishes the odor of flesh from an 

 immense distance.'" 



Mr. Barrows then adds : "This belief in the extraordinary 

 power of smell possessed by carrion vultures is largely an inher- 

 ited or traditional one, and was long ago shown to be without 

 foundation. That they have some smell is well known, and Owen 

 has even shown that in the turkey buzzard the olfactory nerves 



