264 
TURKEY VULTURE. 
rising lines, and move with great rapidity. They are often seen 
in companies, soaring at an immense height, particularly previous 
to a thunderstorm. Their wings are not spread horizontally, but 
form an upward angle with the body, the tips having an upward 
curve. Their sense of smelling is astonishingly exquisite, and they 
never fail to discover carrion, even when at the distance from it of 
several miles. When once they have found a carcass, if not mo- 
lested, they will not leave the place until the whole is devoured. 
At such times they eat so immoderately that frequently they are 
incapable of rising, and maybe caught without much difficulty; 
but few that are acquainted with them will have the temerity to 
undertake the task. A man in the state of Delaware, a few years 
ago, observing some Turkey-buzzards regaling themselves upon 
the carcass of a horse, which was in a highly putrid state, conceiv- 
ed the design of making a captive of one, to take home for the 
amusement of his children. He cautiously approached, and, spring- 
ing upon the unsuspicious group, grasped a fine plump fellow in 
his arms, and was bearing off his prize in triumph, when lo ! the 
indignant Vulture disgorged such a torrent of filth in the face of 
our hero, that it produced all the effects of the most powerful 
emetic, and for ever cured him of his inclination for Turkey-buz- 
zards. 
On the continent of America this species inhabits a vast range 
of territory, being common,* it is said, from Nova Scotia to Terra 
del Fuego.-j* How far, on the Pacific, to the northward of the river 
Columbia they are found, we are not informed ; but it is ascertained 
In the northern states of our union the Turkey-buzzard is only occasionally seen, it is 
considered a rare bird by the inhabitants, 
t “ Great numbers of a species of Vulture, commonly called Carrion Crow by the sailors, 
(Vultur aura,) were seen upon this island (New-year’s Island, near Cape Horn, lat. 55 S. 67 
W.), and probably feed on young seal.cubs, which either die in the birth, or which they take 
an opportunity to seize upon.*’ Cook calls them Turkey-Buzzards. Forster’s Voy. ii, p. 516, 
quarto, London, 1777. 
