248 THE FACULTY OF SCENT IN THE VULTURE. 



In Andalusia, one day in particular, I stood to watch the vultures 

 feeding on the putrid remains of a mule, some ten miles from the 

 pleasant village of Alhaurin. Both kids and lambs were reposing 

 and browsing up and down in the neighbourhood, still the vultures 

 touched them not ; neither did the goatherds seem to consider their 

 flocks as being in bad or dangerous company, otherwise they might 

 have despatched the vultures with very little trouble, for they were 

 so gorged with carrion that they appeared unwilling to move from 

 the place. Now, seeing some of the kids and lambs lying on the 

 ground quite motionless, and observing that th.e vultures paid no 

 attention to them, I came to the following conclusion, viz., that the 

 vulture is directed to its food by means of its olfactory nerves coming 

 in contact with tainted effluvium floating in the atmosphere ; and 

 this being the case, we may safely infer that the vulture cannot 

 possibly mistake a sleeping animal for one in which life is extinct, 

 and which has begun to putrefy. 



If the vulture were directed to its food solely by its eye, there 

 would be a necessity for it to soar to an immense height in the sky ; 

 and even then it would be often at a loss to perceive its food on 

 account of intervening objects. But I could never see the vulture 

 rise to any very astonishing height in the heavens, as is the custom 

 with the eagle, the glede, and some other birds of prey ; and I am 

 even fully of opinion, that when these last-mentioned birds soar so 

 high, they are not upon the look-out for lood. When looking at the 

 vultures aloft, I could always distinguish the king of the vultures 

 from the common vulture, and the common vulture from the Vultur 

 aura. Sometimes an inexperienced observer in Guiana may mistake 

 for vultures a flock of birds soaring to a prodigious height in the 

 sky, but upon a steady examination, he will find that they are 

 Nandapoas. 



I conceive that we are in error when we suppose that birds of prey 

 rise to such an astonishing height as we see them do, in order to 

 have a better opportunity of observing their food on the ground 

 below them. I have watched gledes and hawks intensely, when 

 they have been so high that they appeared a mere speck in the azure 

 vault ; still, when at such a great height, I have never been able, in 

 one single instance, to see them descend upon their prey, during the 



