246 OBSERVATIONS ON VULTURES 
towards dead animals, floating in the rivers in Ind'®’ 
where the wind blows steadily from one point of f ' 
compass, for months in succession. It was not easy : 
conceive, that the effluvium from a putrid carcass 
the water, could proceed in direct opposition to t? 
current of air, and affect, the olfactory nerves of bird-’ 
at so many miles distant. We ware disposed to belie' ^ 
that these birds were directed towards the carrt® 
rather by the sense of seeing, than by that of smelh'V 
This opinion is confirmed by the following ohservat' 1 ’"' 
of our friend Audubon, communicated to us by a" 
some time ago, for our Philosophical Journal : — ■ 
“ As soon as, like me, you shall have seen the turj 1 ^ | 
buzzard follow with arduous closeness of investigat’ 0 j 
the skirts of the forests, the meanders of creeks 
rivers, sweeping over the whole of extensive ph* l,1 j ) ’ j 
glancing his quick eye in all directions, with as id 1 * 1 ' 
intentness as ever did the noblest of falcons, 
discover where below him lies the suitable P ,f ’ V ; 
when, like me, you have repeatedly seen that bird p; ! 
over objects, calculated to glut his voracious app^'JJ 
unnoticed, because unseen; and when you have 11 *y 
observed the greedy vulture, propelled by hunger, 
not famine, moving 'like the wind, suddenly round 11 
course, as the carrion attracts his eye; then will 
abandon the deeply rooted notion, that this 
possesses the faculty of discovering, by his sc»s e 
•smell, his prey at, an immense distance. j, 
“ This power of smelling so acutely, I adopted » s j 
fact, from my youth. I had read of this when a child ; a ^ 
many of the theorists, to whom I subsequently *1’° . 
of it, repeated the same with enthusiasm, the R 10 .^ 
particularly as they considered it an extraordinary 
of nature. But I had already observed, that nathy 
although wonderfully bountiful, had not granted n>® . 
to any one individual than was necessary, and that ^ 
one was possessed of any two of the senses in a 
high state of perfection ; that if it had a good scent, 
needed not so much acuteness of sight, and vice ver 
