CALIFORNIAN VULTURE. 
259 
^parent, and the matter, in an almost fluid state, 
abandoned by the vultures.” 
. So far Audubon. We may add, that the toucan is a 
"fed which ranks next to the vulture in discovering, 
Hether by smell or sight, the carrion on which it 
feeds. The great size of its bill was supposed to admit 
°f an extensive distribution of the olfactory nerve, and 
to account for its supposed power of smelling at 
great distances ; but careful examination shews that 
mere is no such extensive distribution of the nerve 
f °r smelling : but the eye of this bird is rather larger 
ll *an the whole brain, and its power of vision is most 
?°Rte. Hence, in countries where the toucan occurs, 
11 generally arrives a little in the rear of the vulture, 
4l >d remains until the larger bird is glutted; while 
Waller birds of prey, at a still more retired distance, 
pay similar respect to the toucan. 
t'ULTUR CAL1FORNIAXUS , SHAW. CALIFORNIAN VULTURE. 
Hr Richardson, in the Northern Zoology , says,-— 
This great vulture, which is four feet eight inches in 
feagth, and between the tips of the wings nine feet 
Jjgnt inches, is an inhabitant of the shores of the 
* acific, and was first introduced to the notice ot natu- 
ralists by Mr Menzies, who brought a specimen from 
,aliforuia, and deposited it in the llritish Museum, 
has not been discovered to the eastward of the 
m>cky Mountains, and I can, consequently, make no 
volition to its history from personal observation ; but 
-’Jt David Douglas has given an interesting account of 
Y e habits of the species in the Zoological Journal, 
lr OiU which the following notices are extracted. He 
'"presents it as a common bird in the woody districts 
of California, and that he met with it in the summer 
far north as the forty-ninth degree of latitude; but 
?? Where so abundantly as in the valley of the Golum- 
S between the Grand Rapids and the sea. They 
b hild, he says, in the most secret and impenetrable 
