17(3 S. CRUZ, PATAGONIA. [CHAP. ix. 



this case, the intelligence could hardly have been acquired by 

 sight. On the other hand, besides the experiments of Audobon 

 and that one by myself, Mr. Bachman has tried in the United States 

 many varied plans, showing that neither the turkey-buzzard (the 

 species dissected by Professor Owen) nor the gallinazo find their 

 food by smell. He covered portions of highly offensive offal with 

 a thin canvas cloth, and strewed pieces of meat on it : these the 

 carrion-vultures ate up, and then remained quietly standing, with 

 their beaks within the eighth of an inch of the putrid mass, without 

 discovering it. A small rent was made in the canvas, and the 

 offal was immediately discovered; the canvas was replaced by a 

 fresh piece, and meat again put on it, and was again devoured by 

 the vultures without their discovering the hidden mass on which 

 they were trampling. These facts are attested by the signatures 

 of six gentlemen, besides that of Mr. Bachman.* 



Often when lying down to rest on the open plains, on looking 

 upwards, I have seen carrion-hawks sailing through the air at a 

 great height. Where the country is level I do not believe a space 

 of the heavens, of more than fifteen degrees above the horizon, is 

 commonly viewed with any attention by a person either walking or 

 on horseback. If such be the case, and the vulture is on the wing 

 at a height of between three and four thousand feet, before it could 

 come within the range of vision, its distance in a straight line from 

 the beholder's eye, would be rather more than two British miles. 

 Might it not thus readily be overlooked? When an animal is 

 killed by the sportsman in a lonely valley, may he not all the while 

 be watched from above by the sharp-sighted bird ? And will not 

 the manner of its descent proclaim throughout the district to the 

 whole family of carrion-feeders, that their prey is at hand ? 



When the condors are wheeling in a flock round and round any 

 spot, their flight is beautiful. Except when rising from the ground, 

 I do not recollect ever having seen one of these birds flap its wings. 

 Near Lima, I watched several for nearly half an hour, without once 

 taking off my eyes : they moved in large curves, sweeping in circles, 

 descending and ascending without giving a single flap. As they 

 glided close over my head, I intently watched from an oblique 

 position, the outlines of the separate and great terminal feathers of 

 each wing ; and these separate feathers, if there had been the least 

 vibratory movement, would have appeared as if blended together ; 

 * London's Magazine of Xat. Hist., vol. vii. 



