THE FACULTY OF SCENT IN THE VULTURE. 249 



many years in which I have observed them. But, on the other hand, 

 when birds of prey are in quest of food, I have always seen them fly 

 at a very moderate height over the woods and meads, and strike 

 their victim with the rapidity of lightning. Thus, the kestrel hovers 

 at so comparatively short a distance from the earth, that he is enabled 

 to drop down upon a mouse, and secure it as quick as thought. 

 Thus, the merlin and sparrowhawk, a little before dark, shoot past 

 you, when you are watching behind a tree, with inconceivable 

 velocity, and snatch away the unsuspecting bunting from the hedge. 

 But when food seems not to be the object, especially about the 

 breeding season, you may observe the windhovers rising in majestic 

 evolutions to a vast altitude ; but, if you watch till your eyes ache, 

 you will never see them descend upon their prey from this immense 

 height : indeed, the great distance to which they rise would operate 

 much against them in their descent to seize their food. For example, 

 suppose a mouse to be on the ground, exactly under a hawk, which 

 hawk is so high up that its appearance to the observer's eye is not 

 larger than that of a lark, how is the hawk to take the mouse ? If 

 it descend slowly, the wary mouse would have time to get into its 

 hole ; if the hawk came down rapidly, the noise it causes in darting 

 through the expanse would be a sufficient warning for the mouse to 

 get out of the way. In order to have a proper idea of the noise 

 which the descent of the bird would cause, we have only to listen to 

 a rook in the act 01 what the peasants call shooting, and which, by 

 the bye, they always consider as a sign of coming wind ; though, in 

 fact, it can easily be accounted for without any aid from conjecture. 

 It might here be asked, for what object, then, do many birds of prey 

 rise to such an amazing height in the sky ? I answer, I know not. 

 Why does the lark mount so high, and sing all the time? His 

 female and other listeners on the ground would hear him more 

 distinctly and clearly, were he to pour forth his sweet and vernal 

 notes nearer to them. 



But to return to the vulture. After the repeated observations I 

 have made in the country where it abounds, I am quite satisfied that 

 it is directed to its food by means of its olfactory nerves coming in 

 contact with putrid effluvium, which rises from corrupted substances 

 through the heavier air. Those are deceived who imagine that this 



