40 
THE TURKEY BUZZARD. 
highest branches of trees till their dinner be suffi- 
ciently digested. The author tells us that the first 
" are easily seen by other vultures, who, through 
habit, know the meaning of such stoppages." I wish 
the author had told us how he became informed of this 
knowledge^ which the " other vultures " had acquired 
of these stoppages. Let us suppose for an instant j 
that the latter comers, after travelling " hundreds of l 
miles/' had unluckily mistaken the group of vultures ! 
perched on high trees; and, in lieu of arriving at the ! 
tree under which dinner was waiting for them, they | 
had got to the tree under which all the dinner had \ 
been eaten up. Pray, what were the hungry scaven- 
gers to do ? Were they to proceed, " hundreds of 
miles" farther, upon an empty stomach, in quest of 
more stoppages ? or were they to wait in patience, ! 
with the vultures perched on high dead limbs of 
trees, till those stomach-filled birds should have i 
digested their food, and were ready to start afresh ? ; 
The author assures us, that " vultures perched on 
high dead limbs, in such conspicuous positions, are 
easily seen by other vultures, who, through habit, 
know the meaning of such stoppages : " but then we 
have only his bare word for this extraordinary cir- 
cumstance ; and, notwithstanding what he has said, 
my opinion is, that the coming-up vultures would 
just as often have the bad luck to find themselves 
arrived at the tree under w^hich the dinner had 
been all eaten up, as the good luck to get to the 
tree under which dinner was to be found too tough 
to be eaten immediately. 
Towards the end of the account, our author tells j 
