TURKEY VULTURE. 15 



fetid." But is it reasonable to suppose that that effluvia can be 

 offensive to them, which arises from food perfectly adapted to 

 their nature, and which is constantly the object of their desires? 

 Many birds, and particularly those of the granivorous kind, 

 have a similar habit, which, doubtless, is attended with the 

 same exhilarating effect, that an exposure to the pure air of the 

 morning has on the frame of one just risen from repose. 



The Turkey-buzzards, unless when rising from the earth, 

 seldom flap their wings, but sweep along in ogees, and dipping 

 and rising lines, and move with great rapidity. They are often 

 seen in companies, soaring at an immense height, particularly 

 before a thunderstorm. Their wings are not spread horizontal- 

 ly, but form an acute angle with the body, the tips having an 

 upward curve. Their sense of smelling is astonishingly exqui- 

 site,* and they never fail to discover carrion, even when at the 

 distance from it of several miles. When once they have found a 

 carcass they will not leave the place, if unmolested, till the whole 

 is devoured. At such times they eat so immoderately, that 

 frequently they are incapable of rising, and may be caught 

 without much difficulty; but few that are acquainted with them 

 will have the temerity to undertake the task. A man in the 

 state of Delaware, a few years ago, observing some Turkey-buz- 

 zards regaling themselves upon the carcass of a horse, which 

 was in a highly putrid state, conceived the design of making a 

 captive of one, to take home for the amusement of his children. 



* The British public has lately been amused with the tales of a traveller, 

 on some of the animals of our country. Among several particulars, which 

 force themselves upon the attention of the American reader by their novelty, 

 we are presented with the result of a series of experiments, which were insti- 

 tuted to prove, that the Turkey-buzzard does not possess the sense of smel- 

 ling! This important enunciation would be calculated to disabuse us, with re- 

 spect to the popular opinion on this subject, did we not recollect, that the 

 sense of seeing- had, also, by some ingenious naturalists, been denied to the 

 Mole; and that the Bird of Paradise had been affirmed to be deficient of those 

 useful organs of locomotion legsl The lovers of romance may now felicitate 

 themselves upon the ascendancy of an observer, whose credible narratives may 

 aspire to the honour of ranking with the tales of the artless John Dunn Hun- 

 ter, or the wonders of that pink of veracity, the renowned Sir John Mandeville. 



