TURKEY VULTURE. 
233 
least suspicion that any such matter had happened. The Dutch 
at the Cape frequently call those eagles, on account of their 
tearing out the entrails of beasts, strunt-vogels^ i. e. dung-birds. 
It frequently happens, that an ox that is freed from the plough, 
and left to find his way home, lies down to rest himself by the 
way and if he does so, it is a great chance but the eagles fall 
upon him and devour him. They attack an ox or cow in a 
body, consisting of an hundred and upwards.’’* 
Buffon conjectures, that this murderous vulture is the turkey 
buzzard, and concludes his history of the latter with the follow- 
ing invective against the whole fraternity : — In every part 
of the globe they are voracious, slothful, offensive, and hateful, 
and, like the wolves, are as noxious during their life, as use- 
less after their death.” 
If Kolben’s account of the ferocity of his eaglcjf or vulture, 
be just, we do not hesitate to maintain that that vulture is not 
the turkey buzzard, as, amongst the whole feathered creation, 
there is none, perhaps, more innoxious than this species ; and 
that it is beneficial to the inhabitants of our southern conti- 
nent, even Buffon himself, on the authority of Desmarchais, 
asserts. But we doubt the truth of Kolben’s story; and, in 
this place, must express our regret, that enlightened natural- 
ists should so readily lend an ear to the romances of travellers, 
who, to excite astonishment, freely give currency to every 
ridiculous tale, which the designing or the credulous impose 
upon them. We will add farther, that the turkey buzzard 
seldom begins upon a carcass, until invited to the banquet by 
that odour, which in no ordinary degree renders it an object 
of delight. 
The turkey vulture is two feet and a half in length, and six 
* Medley’s Kolben^ vol. ii. p. 135. 
f These bloodthirsty eagles, we conjecture, are black vultures, they being in 
the habit of mining into the bellies of dead animals, to feast upon the contents. 
With respect to their attacking those that are living, as the vultures of America 
are not so heroic, it is a fair inference that the same species elsewhere is possessed 
of a similar disposition. 
