THE VULTURE. 17 



ON THE FACULTY OF SCENT IN THE 

 VULTURE. 



" Et truncas inhonesto vulnere nares." JEneid. lib. vi. 



I NEVER thought that I should have lived to see 

 this bird deprived of its nose. But in the third num- 

 ber of Jameson's Journal, a modern writer has actu- 

 ally given " An account of the habits of the Turkey 

 Buzzard ( Vultur Aura), with a view of exploding the 

 opinion generally entertained of its extraordinary 

 power of smelling ;" and I see that a gentleman in 

 the Magazine of Natural History, vol. iii. p. 449. 

 gives to this writer the honour of being the first man 

 who, by his " interesting treatise," caused the ex- 

 plosion to take place. 



I grieve from my heart that the vulture's nose has 

 received such a tremendous blow ; because the world 

 at large will sustain a great loss by this sudden and 

 unexpected attack upon it. Moreover, I have a kind 

 of fellow-feeling, if I may say so, for this noble bird. 

 We have been for years together in the same coun- 

 try ; we have passed many nights amongst the same 

 trees; and though we did not frequent the same 

 mess, (for " de gustibus non est disputandum," 

 and I could not eat rotten venison, as our English 

 epicures do,) still we saw a great deal of each other's 

 company. 



Sancho Panza remarks, that there is a remedy for 

 every thing but death. Now, as the vulture has not 

 been killed by the artillery of this modern writer in 

 Jameson's Journal, but has only had its nose carried 



