THE TURKEY BUZZARD. 29 



tion. I would stake my life upon it, that not only 

 the fifty vultures would be at the carcass next morn- 

 ing, but also that every vulture in the adjacent forest 

 would manage to get there in time to partake of the 

 repast. 



Here I will stop, fearing that I have already drawn 

 too largely on the reader's patience ; but really I 

 could not bear to see the vulture deprived of the 

 most interesting feature in its physionomy with im- 

 punity. These are notable times for ornithology : 

 one author gravely tells us that the water-ousel walks 

 on the bottom of streams ; another describes an eagle 

 as lubricating its plumage from an oil-gland ; a third 

 renews in print the absurdity that the rook loses the 

 feathers at the base of the bill by seeking in the 

 earth for.its food ; while a fourth, lamenting that the 

 old name, Caprimulgus, serves to propagate an ab- 

 surd vulgar error, gives to the bird the new name of 

 nigh t-swa How. 



" In nova fert animus." 



THE MEANS BY WHICH THE TURKEY BUZ- 

 ZARD TRACES ITS FOOD. 



IN answer to the remark of Mr. Percival Hunter, 

 in the Magazine of Natural History, vol. iv. p. 83., 

 that my account of the habits of the Vultur Aura 

 is at variance with the observations of Wilson, Hum- 

 boldt, and Azara, I beg to inform him, that I pro- 

 nounced the Vultur Aura of Guiana to be not gre- 



