134 S. CRUZ, PATAGONIA. [CHAP. ix. 



seen the carrion-hawks in the West Indies on two occasions collect on 

 the roof of a house, when a corpse had become offensive from not 

 having been buried : in this case, the intelligence could hardly have 

 been acquired by sight. On the other hand, besides the experiments of 

 Audubon and that one by myself, Mr. Bachman has tried in the United 

 States many varied plans, showing that neither the turkey-buzzard (the 

 species dissected by Professor Owen) nor the gallinazo find their food 

 by smell. He covered portions of highly offensive offal with a thin 

 canvas cloth, and strewed pieces of meat on it ; these the carrion- 

 vultures ate up, and then remained quietly standing, with their beaks 

 within the eighth of an inch of the putrid mass, without discovering it. 

 A small rent was made in the canvas, and the offal was immediately 

 discovered ; the canvas was replaced by a fresh piece, and meat again 

 put on it, and was again devoured by the vultures without their 

 discovering the hidden mass on which they were trampling. These 

 facts are attested by the signatures of six gentlemen, besides that of 

 Mr. Bachman.* 



Often when lying down to rest on the open plains, on looking upwards 

 I have seen carrion-hawks sailing through the air at a great height. 

 Where the country is level I do not believe a space of the heavens, of 

 more than fifteen degrees above the horizon, is commonly viewed with 

 any attention by a person either walking or on horseback. If such be 

 the case, and the vulture is on the wing at a height of between three and 

 four thousand feet, before it could come within the range of vision, its 

 distance in a straight line from the beholder's eye, would be rather more 

 than two British miles. Might it not thus readily be overlooked? 

 When an animal is killed by the sportsman in a lonely valley, may he 

 not all the while be watched from above by the sharp-sighted bird ? 

 And will not the manner of its descent proclaim throughout the district 

 to the whole family of carrion-feeders, that their prey is at hand ? 



When the condors are wheeling in a flock round and round any spot, 

 their flight is beautiful. Except when rising from the ground, I do not 

 recollect ever having seen one of these birds flap its wings. Near Lima, 

 I watched several for nearly half an hour, without once taking off my 

 eyes ; they moved in large curves, sweeping in circles, descending and 

 ascending without giving a single flap. As they glided close over my 

 head, I intently watched from an oblique position the outlines of the 

 separate and great terminal feathers of each wing ; and these separate 

 feathers, if there had been the least vibratory movement, would have 

 appeared as if blended together ; but they were seen distinct against the 

 blue sky. The head and neck were moved frequently, and apparently 

 with force ; and the extended wings seemed to form the fulcrum on 

 which the movements of the neck, body, and tail acted. If the bird 

 wished to descend, the wings for a moment collapsed ; and when again 

 expanded with an altered inclination, the momentum gained by the 

 rapid descent seemed to urge the bird upwards with the even and 

 leady movement of a paper kite. In the case of any bird soaring, its 

 emotion must be sufficiently rapid, so that the action of the inclined 

 * Loudon's Mngazint of Nat. Hist., vol vii. 



