THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



333 



smell play a great part. All historians relate that after 

 the liattle of Pharsalia, the putrid emanations from the 

 dead heaped upon the ground attracted the vultures from 

 Asia and Africa, which came thither to make their repast. 

 It is certain, according to Humboldt, that if a horse or 



187. Yellow-footed Gulls — Larus fuscus. 



COW 1)6 killed in the most solitary passes of the Cordil- 

 leras where one might think not even condors could exist, 

 several of these sordid carnivorous birds, attracted by the 

 stench, are soon seen arriving in order to gorge themselves 

 Avith the putrefied flesh. 



The migrations of certain lairds are understood; we 

 know from whence they start, where they halt, and where 

 they end their journe}'. Thus, for instance, in autumn, 

 bands of quails which are emigrating, constantly arrive 

 exhausted at the island of Malta, where they meet with 

 fatal hospitality. They are taken in swarms in the streets 

 of the town and on the roads, and as the inhabitants 

 cannot consume the whole of this living harvest, it is sent 



