146 WANDERINGS IN 



Second Eagles, the Falcoiis, the Hawks, and Shrikes ; nothings 



Journey. 



of the different species of Vultures, the King of which is 



very handsome, and seems to be the only bird which 

 claims regal honours from a surromiding tribe. It is a 

 fact beyond all dispute, that when the scent of carrion 

 has drawn together hundreds of the common Vultures, 

 they all retire from the carcass as soon as the King of the 

 Vultures makes his appearance. When his majesty hai^ 

 satisfied the cravings of his royal stomach with the 

 choicest bits from the most stinking and corrupted parts, 

 he generally retires to a neighbouring tree, and then the 

 common Vultures return in crowds to gobble down his 

 leavings. The Indians, as well as the Whites, have 

 observed this ; for when one of them, who has learned 

 a little English, sees the King, and wishes you to have a 

 proper notion of the bird, he says, " There is the gover- 

 nor of the carrion crows." 



Now, the Indians have never heard of a personage in 

 Demerara higher than that of governor ; and the colonists, 

 through a common mistake, call the Vultures carrion 

 crows. Hence the Indian, in order to express the domi- 

 nion of this bird over the common Vultures, tells you he 

 is governor of the carrion crows. The Spaniards have 

 also observed it, for, through all the Spanish Main, he is 

 called Rey de Zamuros, King of the Vultures. The many 

 species of Owls, too, have not been noticed; and no 

 mention made of the Columbine tribe. The prodigious 



