40 THE TURKEY BUZZARD. 



highest branches of trees till their dinner be suffi- 

 ciently digested. The author tells us that the first 

 "are easily seen by other vultures, who, through 

 habit, know the meaning of such stoppages." I wish 

 theauthor had told us how he became informed of this 

 knowledge, which the " other vultures" had acquired 

 of these stoppages. Let us suppose for an instant 

 that the latter comers, after travelling " hundreds of 

 miles, " had unluckily mistaken the group of vultures 

 perched on high trees ; and, in lieu of arriving at 

 the tree under which dinner was waiting for them, 

 they had got to the tree under which all the dinner 

 had been eaten up. Pray, what were the hungry 

 scavengers to do ? Were they to proceed, " hun- 

 dreds of miles " farther, upon an empty stomach, in 

 quest of more stoppages ? or were they to wait in 

 patience, with the vultures perched on high dead 

 limbs of trees, till those stomach-filled birds should 

 have digested their food, and were ready to start 

 afresh? The author assures us that "vultures 

 perched on high dead limbs, in such conspicuous 

 positions, are easily seen by other vultures, who 

 through habit know the meaning of such stoppages : " 

 but then we have only his bare word for this extra- 

 ordinary circumstance ; and, notwithstanding what 

 he has said, my opinion is, that the coming-up 

 vultures would just as often have the bad luck to 

 find themselves arrived at the tree under which the 

 dinner had been all eaten up, as the good luck to get 

 to the tree under which dinner was to be found too 

 tough to be eaten immediately. 



Towards the end of the account, our author tells 



