Vol. XXXVIII 



1920 



Correspondence. Oo9 



CORRESPONDENCE 

 An "Occult Food Sense" in Birds. 



Editor of 'The Atjk': 



Articles dealing with the subject of instincts or intelligence in birds 

 or in mammals have for me a peculiar fascination and are read with much 

 interest. Mr. Beck's article in 'The Auk,' on 'The occult senses in 

 birds,' proved no exception. 



The scene pictured by the author was vividly visualized as I continued 

 to read the well written lines. The crisp morning, the music of the speed- 

 ing hounds, the tingle of eagerness and the keen expectation of the early 

 hunters — then the puzzling change in the whole scene and the end of a 

 stirring fox chase in the prosaic killing of a mad dog. 



But with mind absorbed in the captivating account I am still dimly 

 conscious of another scene, which persists in intruding upon the first. 

 High overhead, on motionless wing, soar two black birds, mere specks 

 in the uncertain light. Greater vision would have revealed them as 

 vultures keenly intent upon the drama belovf, all-hearing, all-observing; 

 but they themselves unobserved, unheard. When the last echo of the 

 gun and the last whimper of disappointed hound and the last sound of 

 human voice had passed away, and all was silent and restored to its wonted 

 order, they began to descend. Rapidly, as they drew near the earth, 

 their sharp eyes and tenacious avian memories which so often before had 

 unerringly guided them on similar missions, led them now into close 

 proximity of the very spot where that something had taken place, which 

 merited their searching investigation. In a time that was incredibly 

 short from the human viewpoint their marvelous eyesight, assisted now 

 by — yes, by a degree of smelling power and also by a "resourcefulness" 

 peculiar to such as are accustomed to seek the necessities of life in many 

 different situations — they soon found themselves before the banquet hall, 

 or, more precisely, the banquet hole. 



It may be, however, that after all it was not these particular two birds, 

 for the mental picture is more or less blurred and obscured by a second 

 one, of a pair of vultures soaring above the South Mountain, taking their 

 morning constitutional in sweeping circles that measured their radii — 

 I had almost said in miles — who caught the sound of hound and gun on 

 the still morning air, and "understood." 



Now, the whole point I wish to make by all this rambling is, merely, 

 that it seems to me quite unnecessary to call forth an "occult food sense" 

 in order to explain the phenomenon described by the author of the above 

 mentioned article. On the evidence there presented it is not at all clear 

 that the case can not be explained by the operation of senses that are 



