30 
THE TURKEY BUZZARD. 
for a long series of years ; and I am still of decided 
opinion that this bird ought not to be considered 
gregarious. 
Wilson was never in Guiana. As for Humboldt, 
I cannot think of submitting to his testimony, in 
matters of ornithology, for one single moment. The 
avocations of this traveller were of too multiplied a 
nature to enable him to be a correct practical orni- 
thologist. Azara is totally unknown to me. 
I have read Mr. Audubon's paper very attentively, 
" and upon taking the length, breadth, height, and 
depth of it, and trying them at home, upon an exact 
scale,*' 'tis out, my lord, in every one of its dimensions. 
In the paper in Jamesons Journal, after some 
preliminary observations, the author says, " When I 
visited the Southern States, and had lived, as it 
were, amongst these vultures for several years, and 
discovered, thousands of times, that they did not 
smell me when I approached them covered by a 
tree, until within a few feet ; and that, when, so 
near, or at a greater distance, I showed myself to 
them, they instantly flew away much frightened, 
the idea evaporated, and I assiduously engaged in a 
series of experiments to prove, to myself at least, how 
far the acuteness of smell existed, if it existed at all." 
Here the author wishes to prove to us, through 
the medium of his own immediate person, that the 
vulture is but poorly off for nose ; but he has left 
the matter short, on two essential points. First, he 
has told us nothing of the absolute state of his own 
person, at the actual time he approached the vul- 
tures ; and, secondly, he is silent as to the precise 
