BUZZARD'S REST. 43 



odor arising from a field planted with this vegetable, 

 when once they have commenced to wilt, attracts these 

 filthy feeders ; but that they really do more than visit 

 the locality is improbable. Nevertheless, I do not sub- 

 scribe to the view that these birds are guided by an 

 acute sense of smell to their unsavory food. "Whenever 

 opportunity has offered, I have sought for information 

 on this point, and the result has invariably been to lead 

 me to conclude that sight, not smell, was the guiding 

 sense. In no instance has the result of any of my ob- 

 servations or experiments been susceptible of any other 

 explanation than that of acute vision, and not astonish- 

 ingly acute either. It is a significant fact that in mid- 

 winter, when far less odor arises from dead animals than 

 in summer, and none at all for much of the time, the 

 few buzzards that remain with us find their food quite 

 as readily as in July and August. In one instance, a 

 carcass of a sheep, uncovered by the drifting of snow, 

 was quickly discovered by them, because the body lay 

 in full relief against a nearly black background ; but an- 

 other carcass, equally uncovered, but lying upon snow, 

 was not seen, although the buzzards passed directly over 

 it, and but a few rods distant. 



It is hard to believe that one of these vultures can see 

 a sheep at a distance of a mile or more, as is undoubted- 

 ly true ; but this is easier than to accept the statement 

 that they can smell it even at half that distance. If 

 they depend upon their sense of smell, it is only during 

 seven or eight months in the year. In winter their sense 

 of sight must practically do the whole work. If equal 

 to the task for a part of the year, why not for all time ? 



