16 
TURKEY VULTURE. 
He cautiously approached, and springing upon the unsuspicious 
group, grasped a fine plump fellow in his arms, and was bear- 
ing off his prize in triumph, when lo ! the indignant Vulture dis- 
gorged 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-buzzards. 
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.t How far, on the Pacific, to the northward 
of the river Columbia, they are found, we are not informed; 
but it is ascertained that they extend their migrations to the 
latter, allured thither by the quantity of dead salmon, which at 
certain seasons line its shores. 
They are numerous in the West India islands, where they 
are said to be “ far inferior in size to those of North America. ’’f 
This leads us to the inquiry, whether or not the present species 
has been confounded by the naturalists of Europe, with the 
Black Vulture, or Carrion Crow, which is so common in the 
southern parts of our continent. If not, why has the latter been 
totally overlooked in the most noted Ornithologies with which 
the world has been favoured, when it is so conspicuous and 
remarkable, that there is no stranger who visits South Carolina, 
Georgia, or the Spanish provinces, but is immediately struck 
with the novelty of its appearance? We can find no cause for 
the Turkey -buzzards of the islands§ being smaller than ours, 
* In the northei-n states of oiir union the Turkey-buzzard is only occasional- 
ly seen, it is considered a rare bhd by the inhabitants. 
t Great numbers of a species of Vulture, commonly called Carrion Crow by 
the sailors, ( f^ultur aura,) were seen upon this island (New-year’s island, near 
Cape Horn, lat. 55 S. 67 W.) and probably feed on j-oung seal-cubs, which 
either die in the birth, or which tliey take an opportunity to seize upon.” 
Cook calls them Turkey-buzzards. Forster’s Voy. ii, p. 516, quarto, London, 
1777. 
t Pennant, Arctic Zoology. 
§ The Vulture which Sir Hans Sloane figured and described, and wliich he 
says is common in Jamaica, is undoubtedly the Vullur aura; “ The head and 
an inch in the neck are bare and without feathers, of a flesh colour, cov- 
ered with a thin membrame, like that of turkies, with which the most part of 
the bill is covered likewise; bill (below the membrane) more than an inch 
