iv 



PREFACE. 



tlie Wanderings for information concerning the 

 Humming-Bird ; and that, having got what he 

 wanted, he had coupled my name with an epi- 

 thet* any thing but congenial to my feelings. 

 Upon this, with no other sensation than that 

 which a man experiences when he receives a 

 pinch which he knows that he does not deserve, 

 I took up the new edition of the Ornithological 

 Dictionary^ and having given it a few hearty 

 shakes, by way of retaliation, I laid it down 

 again upon the table, and bade it rest in peace. 

 This will account to the reader for the appear- 

 ance of an extract from the Ornithological 

 Dictionary in the first page of the following 

 Essays. 



Having had every possible opportunity of 

 paying attention to the habits of the Vulture, 

 during a long residence in the hottest parts of 

 South America, where this bird is found in vast 

 abundance, I was convinced, and am still con- 

 vinced beyond all doubt whatever, that the 

 Vulture possesses the faculty of scent in a most 

 superior degree ; and I made mention in the 



* The eccentric Waterton. 



