SOUTH AMERICA. 211 

 • The common black, short, square-tailed Viiltm'e is Third 



Journey, 



gregarious ; but the Aura Vulture is not so ; for, though 



Other spe- 



you may see fifteen or twenty of them feeding on the ^^^^ of Vui- 

 dead vermin in a cane-field, after the trash has been set 

 fire to, still, if you have paid attention to their arrival, 

 you will have observed that they came singly and retired 

 singly ; and thus their being all together in the same 

 field was merely accidental, and caused by each one 

 smelling the effluvia as he was soaring through the sky 

 to look out for food. I have watched twenty come into 

 a cane -field; they arrived one by one, and from dilferent 

 parts of the heavens. Hence we may conclude, that 

 though the other species of Vulture are gregarious, the 

 Aura Vulture is not. 



If you dissect a Vulture that has just been feeding on 

 carrion, you must expect that your olfactory nerves Avill 

 be somewhat offended with the rank effluvia from his 

 craw ; just as they would be were you to dissect a citizen 

 after the lord mayor's dinner. If, on the contrary, the 

 Vulture be empty at the time you commence the opera- 

 tion, there will be no offensive smell, but a strong scent 

 of musk. 



I had long wished to examine the native haunts of the 

 Cayman ; but as the river Demerara did not afford a 

 specimen of the large kind, I was obliged to go to the 

 river Essequibo to look for one. 



I got the canoe ready, and went down in it to George- 



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