230 
TURKEY VULTURE. 
able time. Pennant conjectures, that this is ‘‘ to purify their 
bodies, which are most offensively fetid.” But is it reasonable 
to suppose, that that effluvia can be offensive to them, which 
arises from food perfectly adapted to their nature, and which is 
constantly the object of their desires ? Many birds, and par- 
ticularly those of the granivorous kind, have a similar habit, 
which doubtless is attended with the same exhilarating effects, 
as an exposure to the pure air of the morning has on the frame 
of one just risen from repose. 
These birds, unless when rising from the earth, seldom flap 
their wings, but sweep along in ogees, and dipping and rising 
lines, and move with great rapidity. They are often seen in 
companies, soaring at an immense height, particularly previous 
to a thunder-storm. Their wings are not spread horizontally, 
but form a slight angle with the body upwards, 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 of several miles from it. When once they have 
found a carcass, if not molested, they will not leave the place 
until the whole is devoured. At such times they eat so immo- 
derately, that frequently they are incapable of rising, and may 
be 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 since, observing 
some turkey buzzards regaling themselves upon the carcass 
of a horse which was in a highly putrid state, conceived the 
design of making a captive of one, to take home for the amuse- 
ment 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 1 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 buzzards. 
On the continent of America, this species inhabits a vast 
