®lje HarMrr 23 



rest and looked for more. One of them walked within two feet of the par- 

 cel of meat which had been placed under a brush heap. He did not per- 

 ceive it, and finally flew away. We now took away the painting, notwith- 

 standing the effluvium that is continually attracting the neighboring doo- s 

 no Buzzards have since alighted in the warden. 



25th December. This was Christmas Day. No experiments were 

 made. The offal, however, was left in the same place, and although the 

 Buzzards were as usual flying over not one alighted in the garden. In the 

 prosecution of our experiments we discovered that the powers of sight in our 

 Vultures were certainly not as great as those possessed by the Falcon tribe. 

 A dead fowl was discovered by them at a distance of seventy or eighty yards, 

 a sheep at 100 or 120 yards. These, however, were stationary objects^ laying 

 on the ground. One of their own species, however, flying in the air is no 

 doubt observed at a much greater distance. It may easily be conceived why 

 the sight of the Vulture is less acute than that of Hawks' and Eagles. The 

 latter prey upon birds, quadrupeds, etc., for which they have to hunt. The 

 former feed on dead animals, birds and reptiles, and frequently those of large 

 size which it requires no extraordinary powers of vision to discover.' 



It may next be inquired for what purpose are the wide nostrils and ol- 

 factory nerves given to Vultures if they are not intended to enable them to 

 procure their food. To this I answer that the olfactory nerves of our Vul- 

 tures are not larger than those of many other birds and their nostrils are 

 less even than that of the Whooping Crane {Grits Americana) which discovers 

 its food, as I strongly suspect every other bird does, by the eye alone. Sev- 

 eral heads of Vultures are now in the hands of individuals connected with our 

 medical colleges for dissection. A satisfactory elucidation of this subject 

 will require time, patience and an extensive knowledge of comparative ana- 

 tomy in regard to the various species of birds. The result of these investi- 

 gations will probably be communicated to the public in the course of a few 

 months. 



