THE VULTURES. 173 



Vultures can perceive the existence of carrion at a 

 very great distance. Some authors have supposed 

 that it was owing to the sense of smell being very 

 acute ; but it appears to be by no means certain that 

 the olfactory nerve, which in mammalia is the organ 

 of smell, does in birds perform that function. The 

 Vultures, as well as many other birds, possess an 



of a contest between a strong English miner from Cornwall 

 and one of these gormandizers after a full meal : 



" The man, when riding along the plains, saw several 

 Condors, and guessing that they were attracted by the body 

 of some dead animal, rode up, and found a numerous flock 

 around the carcase of a horse. One of the largest was 

 standing with one foot on the ground, and the other in the 

 horse's body, exhibiting a singular force of muscular power, 

 as he lifted the flesh and tore otF great pieces, sometimes 

 shaking his head and pulling with his beak, or sometimes 

 pushing with his leg. As the man approached, one of them, 

 which appeared to be gorged, rose up, and flow about fifty 

 yards off, when it alighted, and he rode up to it, and then 

 jumping down, seized the bird by the neck. The contest 

 was severe, and never probably was such a battle seen be- 

 fore, as a Cornish miner and a Condor. The man declared 

 he never had had such a trial of strength in his life, that 

 he put his knee upon the bird's breast, and tried with all 

 his might to twist his neck, but that the Condor, objecting 

 to this, struggled most violently, and he fully expected that 

 several other birds, which were flying over him, would take 

 part against him, and assist their companion. At length, 

 however, the man succeeded, as he supposed, and carrying 

 off the pinion quills in triumph, left the bird for dead. But 

 so tenacious are they of life, and so difficult to kill, that 

 another horseman, who passed the spot some time after, 

 found it still living and struggling." 

 1,5* 



