WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 203 



stomach with the choicest bits from tlie most stinking and 

 corrupted parts, he generally retires to a neighbouring tree, 

 and then the common vultures return in crowds to gobble 

 down his leavings. The Indians, as well as the whites, 

 have observed this ; for when one of them, wdio has learned 

 a little English, sees the king, and wishes you to have a 

 proper notion of the bird, he says, " There is the governor 

 of the carrion crows." 



Now, the Indians have never heard of a personage in 

 Demerara higher than that of governor ; and the colonists, 

 through a common mistake, call the vultures carrion crows. 

 Hence the Indian, in order to express the dominion of this 

 bird over the common vultures, tells you he is governor of 

 the carrion crows. The Spaniards have also observed it ; 

 for, through all the Spanish Main, he is called Eey de 

 Zamuros, King of the Vultures. The many species of Owls, 

 too, have not been noticed ; and no mention made of the 

 Columbine tribe. The prodigious variety of Water Towl 

 on the sea-shore has been but barely hinted at. 



There, and on the borders and surface of the inland 

 waters, in the marshes and creeks, besides the flamingos, 

 scarlet curlews, and spoonbills, already mentioned, will be 

 found Greenish-Brown Curlews, Sandpipers, Eails, Coots, 

 Gulls, Pelicans, Jabirus, Nandapoas, Crabiers, Snipes, 

 Plovers, Ducks, Geese, Cranes, and Anhingas ; most of 

 them in vast abundance ; some frequenting only the sea- 

 coast, others only the interior, according to their different 

 natures ; all worthy the attention of the naturalist, all 

 worthy of a place in the cabinet of the curious. 



Should thy comprehensive genius not confine itself to 

 birds alone, grand is the appearance of other objects all 

 around. Thou art in a land rich in botany and mineralogy, 

 rich in zoology and entomology. Animation will glow in 

 thy looks, and exercise will brace thy frame in vigour 



