THE TURKEY BUZZARD; 37 
would have taken a lapse of weeks to have destroyed 
the smell putrescent which came from the remains of 
so large an animal; and even granted that the vul- 
tures had been too dull of nose to have smelled it, 
still it could not have failed to have attracted other 
dogs, or the same dogs when their stomachs had 
become empty; and they themselves would have 
gnawed off all the flesh, and squandered the bones, 
without allowing “ natural decay” to consume that 
which was so palatable to them. Be this as it 
may, the author immediately returned, and com- 
menced a new operation about the same place. This 
fortifies me in my conjecture that the carcass must 
have had some greedy customers after the author’s 
departure, otherwise the insufferable smell must 
have been still there; and then the author, by his 
own account, would have been ill able to stand 
the attack on his nasal feelings during the new 
operation. 3 
He says, “I then took a young pig, put a knife 
through its neck, and made it bleed on the earth and 
grass about the same place, and, having covered it 
closely with leaves, also watched the result. The vul- 
tures saw the fresh blood, alighted about it, followed it 
down into the ravine, discovered by the blood, the 
pig, and devoured it when yet quite fresh, within 
my sight.” I must here own I am astonished 
that the vultures could see this, and still have seen 
nothing of the large hog while several dogs were 
feeding on it. However, I request the reader to 
ruminate for a while on these two experiments with 
D 3 
