VULTURE LIFE 



birds, devoid of outer nostrils, they are guided entirely by 

 sight. The experiment has been tried of placing a dead ani- 

 mal under a table, where the breezes could circulate freely 

 about it and bear the odor of putridity to those likely to 

 appreciate it most, with the result that none came to the feast, 

 though it was perfectly accessible, while the mere pictured 

 carcass of another drew a throng of would-be banqueters. 



In southern cities these dark scavengers, who form a 

 self-constituted sanitary commission, are regularly depend- 

 ed upon to consume refuse about butcher shops and to rid 

 garbage heaps of such matter as is suited to vulture tastes. 

 After their visitations, nothing of animal origin remains 

 that is sufficiently decayed to render digestion imnecessary. 



In the rural districts of that region, as well as through- 

 out the Mississippi Valley, they render equally valuable 

 service in disposing of perished animals on the farms and 

 plains. On the taking off of one of these, a group of the 

 uncanny birds is certain to attend the wake. The lifeless 

 body is covered with a living pall as the ghoulish guests 

 partake of the funeral feast. Tearmg away the outer flesh, 

 they feed on the vitals of the dead as did the mythic vulture 

 on the vitals of the living Prometheus. With crowding and 

 pushing in the efforts of the feathered appetites to procure 

 more favorable locations, the gluttonous revel continues till 

 satiety brings it to a close, when the feasters, if not too full 

 for locomotion, betake themselves to neighboring trees, where 

 they remain till hours of slothfulness return to them strength 

 for another attack. 



The home of the black vtdture is in the South, while the 

 turkey vulture is distributed over the whole of the inland 

 portion of America, including the mountainous section. The 

 California condor, the largest of the vultures, is the most 



143 



