130 TURKEY VOLTORE. 
but form a slight angle with the body 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 carcass, if not molested, they will not leave the place 
until the whole is devoured, At such times they eat so immo- 
derately, 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 carcass of 
a horse which was in a highly putrid state, conceived the de- 
sign of making a captive of one, to take home for the amuse- 
ment of his children. He cautiously approached, and spring- 
ing upon the unsuspicious group, grasped a fine plump fellow 
in his arms, and was bearing off his prize in triumph ; when 
lo! the indignant vulture disgorged such a torrent of filth in 
the face of our hero, that it produced all the effects of the most 
powerful emetic, and for ever cured him of his inclination for 
turkey buzzards. 
On the continent of America, this species inhabits a vast 
range of territory, being common,* it is said, from Nova Scotia 
to Tierra del Fuego. How far to the northward of North 
Californiat they are found, we are not informed; but it is 
probable that they extend their migrations to the Columbia, 
* In the northern States of our Union, the turkey buzzard is only 
occasionally seen. It is considered a rare bird by the inhabitants. 
+ “ Great numbers of a species of vulture, commonly called carrion 
crow by the sailors (Vultwr awra), were seen upon this island (New- 
Year’s Island near Cape Horn, lat. 55 8. 67 W.), and probably feed on 
young seal-cubs, which either die in the birth, or which they take an 
opportunity to seize upon.” Cook calls them turkey buzzards. Forster's 
Voyage, ii. p. 516, 4to, London, 1777. We strongly suspect that the 
sailors were correct, and that these were black vultures, or carrion crows. 
+ Pérouse saw a bird, which he calls the black vulture, probably 
the Vultur aura, at Monterey Bay, North California.—Voyage, ii. p. 
203. 

