314 THE HARMONIES OF NATURE. 



approach of danger, and raising it, as it were, above its usual 

 level. 



Although the brain of the birds is far less developed than 

 that of the quadrupeds, yet in point of intelligence they are 

 scarcely inferior. Their memory is truly surprising, for after 

 a long absence, and a voyage of many hundred miles, the mi- 

 gratory birds return with unerring certainty to their former 

 haunts. The stork, who passes his winter on the banks of the 

 Nile, knows where to find again the Dutch peasant's roof, 

 where the comfortable box at the top of the chimney is pre- 

 pared for the reception of his nest; and year after year, the 

 swallow, after revelling in the orange-groves of Italy, or among 

 the palms of Africa, revisits the same English cottage, ever 

 ready to welcome him under the same hospitable thatch. 



D'Orbigny relates a remarkable instance of memory in an 

 American turkey-buzzard. Eelying on their inviolability, for 

 being extremely useful as scavengers they are under the pro- 

 tection of the law, these disgusting birds are uncommonly bold ; 

 and during the- distributions of meat to the Indians, which 

 regularly take place every fortnight in the South American mis- 

 sions, they not seldom come in for their share by dint of impu- 

 dence. In Concepcion de Mojos an Indian told M. d'Orbigny, 

 who was present on one of those occasions, that he would soon 

 have the opportunity of seeing a most notorious thief, well 

 known by his lame leg ; and the bird making his appearance 

 soon after, completely justified his reputation. The traveller 

 was also informed that this ill-famed urubu knew perfectly well 

 the days of distribution in the different missions ; and eight 

 days later, while witnessing a similar scene at Magdalena, twenty 

 leagues distant, he heard the Indians exclaim, and looking up, 

 saw his lame acquaintance of Concepcion hurrying to the spot 

 with the anxious mien of a famished traveller, afraid of coming 

 too late for his share. The padres in both missions assured him 

 that the vulture never failed to make his appearance at the 

 stated time. 



The parrot gives numberless proofs of intelligence ; he not 

 only imitates the voice of man, but has also a strong desire to 

 do so, which he manifests by his attention in listening, and by 

 the continuous efforts he makes to repeat the phrases he has 



