172 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXI. 



to attract its devourers. I am far more inclined 

 to attribute their facility in finding out their food 

 to a quick sense of sight. For the sake of catch- 

 ing these birds and the gray crows also, I was 

 accustomed to have the dead vermin thrown out 

 into a field near the house, where traps were placed 

 round them. When the cats were skinned, and 

 therefore were the more conspicuous, the carrion 

 birds usually found them out the same afternoon. 

 Now buzzards, ravens, and other birds who feed on 

 dead bodies are in the habit of frequently soaring, 

 for hours together, at an immense height in the 

 air, wheeling round and round in wide circles. I 

 have no doubt that at these times they are search- 

 ing with their keen and far-seeing eye for carcases 

 and other substances fit for food. The eagle, who 

 also feeds on dead bodies, wheels and circles in a 

 similar manner, at such a height in the air that 

 he frequently looks like a mere speck in the sky. 

 There can be no doubt that it is upon his eye only 

 that he depends. When, even at this vast height, 

 his quick eye catches sight of a grouse in the 

 heather, down drops the bird of prey as if shot, 

 till within some thirty yards of the ground, when, 

 suddenly stopping his downward course, he again 

 hovers stationary over the grouse, till a fair oppor- 

 tunity offers itself for a swoop. I have frequently 



