30 THE TURKEY BUZZARD. 



for a long series of years ; and I am still of decided 

 opinion that this bird ought not to be considered 

 gregarious. 



Wilson was never in Guiana. As for Humboldt, 

 I cannot think of submitting to his testimony, in 

 matters of ornithology, for one single moment. The 

 avocations of this traveller were of too multiplied a 

 nature to enable him to be a correct practical orni- 

 thologist. Azara is totally unknown to me. 



I have read Mr. Audubon's paper very attentively, 

 " and upon taking the length, breadth, height, and 

 depth of it, and trying them at home, upon an exact 

 scale," 't is out, my lord, in every one of its dimensions. 



In the paper in Jamesons Journal, after some 

 preliminary observations, the author says, " When I 

 visited the Southern States, and had lived, as it 

 were, amongst these vultures for several years, and 

 discovered, thousands of times, that they did not 

 smell me when I approached them covered by a 

 tree, until within a few feet ; and that, when, so 

 near, or at a greater distance, I showed myself to 

 them, they instantly flew away much frightened, 

 the idea evaporated, and I assiduously engaged in a 

 series of experiments to prove, to myself at least, how 

 far the acuteness of smell existed, if it existed at all." 



Here the author wishes to prove to us, through 

 the medium cf his own immediate person, that the 

 vulture is but poorly off for nose ; but he has left 

 the matter short, on two essential points. First, he 

 has told us nothing of the absolute state of his own 

 person, at the actual time he approached the vul- 

 tures ; and, secondly, he is silent as to the precise 



