BIRDS. 



509 



food. The turkey-buzzard, by the way, is fond of the eggs of the alli- 

 gator, and devours them whenever found. To the statement that they 

 wait for a carcass to decompose before attacking it, and hence must prefer 

 tainted meat to fresh, the reply is that they cannot tear the sound hide, 

 but must wait until decomposition makes an opening for them. 





Fig. 424. — Condor (Sarcorhamphus gryphus). 



Then as to the sense of smell. It was formerly affirmed that their 

 olfactory powers were unsurpassed. Their nostrils are large, and their 

 olfactory nerves are highly developed ; and yet it would appear that sight 

 is far more important in guiding them to food than is the sense of smell. 

 The other view, however, prevailed until 1826, when Audubon laid before 

 a scientific society in Edinburgh his experiments in this direction. The 

 theory that carrion-feeding birds were attracted by the strong odor of the 



