772 



BUXTORF -BUZZARD. 



about five hours, produced the exact answer. His 

 application to figures prevented his making the small- 

 est progress in any other branch of knowledge ; and, 

 on other subjects, his ideas were as confined as those 

 of a child. In 1754, he walked to London, and was 

 introduced to the royal society. He was also taken 

 to see Richard III., at Drury lane, where, instead of 

 paying attention to the entertainment, he was engag- 

 ed in counting how many words Garrick uttered, and 

 the steps of the dancers. He died at about 70 years 

 of age. 



BUXTORF, John, an eminent Calvinistic divine, was 

 born in 1564, at Camen, in Westphalia. Being very 

 learned in Hebrew and Chaldaic, in the acquirement 

 of which he obtained the assistance of many learned 

 Jews, he was engaged, by the magistrates of Basil, in 

 the professorship <>t those languages, which he taught 

 with great success. He died at Basil, in 1629. His 

 works are, Lexicon Chaldakum Thalmudicttm ct Rabbi- 

 nicum ; Thesaurus Lingua Hebraica ; Hebrew Bible, 

 with the Rabbinical and Chaldaic Paraphrases, the 

 Mossora, &c. ; Hebrew and Chaldaic Dictionary ; 

 Hebrew Grammar; Synagoga Judaica, a Collection 

 of Modes and Ceremonies: Bibliotheca Rabbinica; 

 Iitstitutio Epistolaris Hebraica ; Concordantite He- 

 braicac, &C. 



BUXTORF, John, son of the preceding, was born at 

 Basil, in 1599, and was made professor of the Orien- 

 tal languages there. He published a Chaldaic and 

 Syriac Lexicon ; Tractatus de Punctorum focalium 

 ct Accentuum in Libris veteris Testamenti Hebraicis 

 Orighie, Antiquitate et Auctoritate; and Anti-critica, 

 ten VindicicR P'critatit Hebraica ; in the last two of 

 which he defended his father's opinions concerning 

 the Hebrew vowel points. He was also the author 

 of Dissertations on the Old and New Testament; 

 Florilegium Hebraicum; Exercitationes PAilologico- 

 criticce, &c. He died at Basil, in 1C64. There were 

 two other Buxtorfs John James, and John rela- 

 tions of the former, who both were professors in the 

 same chair at Basil, and both writers on Hebrew 

 literature. 



BUYUKDERE (i. e., great valley, from buyuk, great, 

 and dere, valley) ; a charming little town on the 

 western side of the Bosphorus, not far from Constan- 

 tinople and the Black sea, so called from the great 

 Talley in which it lies, whence also the stream pass- 

 ing through it is called B. The valley, as well as 

 the river, is called BWw*oXir , i. e., the deep bosomed. 

 It was formerly called the fair land (*>.of ayja*). 

 This splendid walk is now calle*d the meadows (Liba- 

 dia, la prairie). In the lower part of this meadow is 

 one of the most splendid groups of trees on the Bos- 

 phorus, consisting of seven plane-trees, which are 

 called, together, Jedi Kardascn, i. e., the seven 

 brothers. According to a tradition not well substan- 

 tiated, Godfrey of Bouillon encamped in these mea- 

 dows, in 1096, with an army of crusaders. The place 

 consists of the lower and the upper town. In the 

 former are the houses of the Greeks, Armenians, and 

 some Turks. In the upper part are the summer- 

 houses and gardens of the European ambassadors, 

 besides which, many also have houses in Belgrade. 

 Among these houses, the most splendid is the palace 

 of the Russian ambassador, with its gardens. This 

 and several other palaces lie together on the beautiful 

 quay, which is one of the most frequented walks of 

 the people of B. A long and handsome street, run- 

 ning through the place, consists of two rows of 

 houses, built, for the most part, in the European 

 fashion. Foreigners often pass the winter here, on 

 account of the beauty of the country. B. is also the 

 general resort of the higher classes, if a contagious 

 disease prevails in Constantinople, Galata, or Pera, as 

 well as when an insurrection of the people is appre- 



hended. See Frankland's Journey to and from dm- 

 stantmople, London, 1829. 



BUZZARD (vultur aura, Wils. ; cathartes aura, lllig. ; 

 commonly called turkey-buzzard, or turkey vulture). 

 This bird is found over a vast extent of territory on 

 the American continent, in the \\ est India islands, 

 and in the southern parts of Europe and Asia. In 

 the United States, they are most numerous in the 

 southern parts, and appear in the Northern Slates 

 only during the summer. The turkey, buzzard is a 

 perfectly harmless creature, and derives its food 

 exclusively from the putrid carcasses which are to be 

 found within its range. It is, therefore, seldom dis- 

 turbed by man, and does not exhibit much timidity, 

 though by no means in the habit of frequenting the 

 immediate vicinity of human dwellings, like its allied 

 species, the black vulture, or carrion crow of the 

 south. The turkey-buzzard is gregarious, and flocks 

 of considerable size are always found to feed and 

 roost together. For the latter purpose, they generally 

 choose the limbs of dead trees, upon which they may 

 be seen sitting, with both wings outspread, in the 

 morning, as if for the purpose of giving the fresh air 

 free access to their bodies. When their favourite 

 carrion is to be obtained, they are very voracious, 

 gorging themselves until actually unable to contain 

 more, and even, for a time, rendering themselves 

 unable to fly. Under such circumstances, it is unad- 

 visable to approach them, as they are sure to be 

 revenged upon their disturbers by vomiting over them 

 a torrent of horribly disgusting filth. This is the only 

 mode in which they attempt to defend themselves; 

 and they especially resort to it when any one interferes 

 with their nests. The turkey-buzzard flies in a very 

 beautiful manner, rarely flapping the wings, except 

 in rising from the earth, but sailing and dipping in 

 beautiful curved lines, traversing a vast space with 

 wonderful celerity and ease, or soaring to the higher 

 regions of the atmosphere, until entirely lost to sight. 

 Like all the birds of their class, the buzzards possess 

 strong powers of vision ; but the sense of smelling is 

 that by which they are principally guided to their 

 food. This they are capable of thus discovering from 

 immense distances, and the most striking facts illus- 

 trative of the acuteness of their olfactory organs are 

 on record. Notwithstanding these, and the obvious 

 evidence afforded by the structure of their smelling 

 apparatus, a recent writer has undertaken to assert 

 that they are possessed of little or no power of smel- 

 ling. The places chosen by the turkey- buzzard for 

 laying are generally in remote and solitary swamps, 

 or dense forests, where a hollow stump or rotten log 

 serves for a nest. The eggs are from two to four, 

 of a dull-white, or cream colour, splashed with cho- 

 colate and black, the patches of this being largest 

 and thickest towards the larger end. The egg re- 

 sembles that of a goose, but is blunter at the small 

 end : it is two inches and three-fourths long, by two 

 broad. The young are covered by a whitish down, 

 somewhat similar to that upon a young gosling. 



Some years since, we obtained a young buzzard 

 while still covered with long, white down, with the 

 exception of the wings, which were partly feathered. 

 It was unable to fly, and had advanced to a party of 

 wood-cutters, while at work, having apparently 

 wandered too far from the nest to retrace its steps. 

 As it seemed hungry, one of them gave it some meat, 

 which it^greedily swallowed, and afterwards remained 

 with them until they returned home, and brought it 

 with them. This young buzzard speedily became 

 domesticated, and as importunately demanded food as 

 any of the regular tenants of the poultry yard. It 

 ate all sorts of meat and garbage, uniformly preferring 

 the most filthy. As it acquired full plumage, it began 

 to kill and devour the young ducks and chickens, 



