THE VULTURE. 25 
the vulture rise to any very astonishing height in the 
heavens, as is the custom with the eagle, the glede, 
and some other birds of prey ; and I am even fully 
of opinion, that when these last-mentioned birds 
soar so high, they are not upon the look-out for food. 
When looking at the vultures aloft, I could always 
distinguish the king of the vultures from the common 
vulture, and the common vulture from the Vultur 
Aura. Sometimes an inexperienced observer in 
Guiana, may mistake for vultures a flock of birds 
soaring to a prodigious height in the sky; but, upon 
a steady examination, he will find that they are 
Nandapoas. 
I conceive that we are in error when we suppose 
that birds of prey rise to such an astonishing height 
as we see them do, in order to have a better oppor- 
tunity of observing their food on the ground below 
them. I have watched gledes and hawks intensely, 
when they have been so high that they appeared a 
mere speck in the azure vault ; still, when at sucha 
great height, I have never been able, in one single 
instance, to see them descend upon their prey, dur- 
ing the 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 mo- 
derate height over the woods and meads, and strike 
their victim with the rapidity of lightning. Thus, 
the kestrel hovers at so comparatively short a dis- 
tance 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 
