BIRDS OF PREY. 



83 



gregarious, peaceable, and harmless, never offering any violence to any living animal, or, like the 

 plunderers of the Falco tribe, depriving the husbandman of his stock. Hence, though in consequence 

 of their filthy habits they are not beloved, yet they are respected for their usefulness ; and in the 

 Southern States, where they are most needed, they, as well as the Black Vultures, are protected by a 

 law which imposes a fine on those who wilfully deprive them of life. They generally roost in flocks, 

 on the limbs of large trees ; and they may be seen on a summer morning spreading out their wings 

 to the rising sun, and remaining in that posture for a considerable time. Pennant conjectures that 

 this is ' to purify their bodies, which are most offensively fetid.' But is it reasonable to suppose that 

 that effluvia can be offensive to them which arises from food perfectly adapted to their nature, and 

 which is constantly the object of their desires ? Many birds, and particularly those of the grani- 



the urubu (Cathartes aura). 



vorous kind, have a similar habit, which doubtless is attended with the same exhilarating effects as 

 an exposure to the pure air of the morning has on the frame of one just risen from repose. These 

 birds, unless when rising from the earth, seldom flap their wings, but sweep along in ogees, and 

 dipping and rising lines, and move with great rapidity. They are often seen in companies, soaring 

 at an immense height, particularly previous to a thunder-storm. Their wings are not spread hori- 

 zontally, but form with the body a slight angle upwards, the tips having an upward curve. Their 

 sense of smelling is astonishingly exquisite, and they never fail to discover carrion, even when at the 

 distance of several miles from it. When once they have found a carcase, if not molested, they will 

 not leave the place until the whole is devoured. At such times they eat so immoderately, that 

 frequently they are incapable of rising, and may be caught without much difficulty ; but few that are 

 acquainted with them will have the temerity to undertake the task. A man in the State of Delaware, 

 a few years since, observing some Turkey Buzzards regaling themselves upon the carcase of a horse 



