The Sense of Smell in the American 
Vultures. 
BY WALTER HOXIE. 
In a recent article in The Auk, the writer 
argues that our Vultures possess a highl}' de- 
veloped sense of smell. My own observations 
point to a contrary conclusion and will quote 
one or two observations. 
Last summer an ox died on the road and was 
hauled into some thick bushes. The cart to 
which he was attached, was backed in after him 
and for several days the carcass was thus 
screened from view, but was fearfully apparent 
to the dullest nose. Numerous dogs feasted on 
it, but no vultures came until the cart was 
removed, when being in plain view through the 
numerous openings into which it had been 
dragged, they came in myriads and in a short 
time nothing was to be seen but the bones. 
Had the Vultures possessed even a dull sense 
of smell and known how to use it as a guide to 
their repast, they would, in my opinion, have 
discovered their prey three days sooner than 
they did. 
1 once raised a pair of young Turkey Vul- 
tures. When oflered food they manifested great 
excitement and would tumble awkwardly into 
the pan in which it was placed. But when the 
pan was covered up, though full of tempting 
and odoriferous offal, they maintained their 
usual dull and sleepy demeanor. I have even 
placed them upon a newspairer which imvered 
the entrails of a duck without their manifesting 
the faintest sign of a knowledge of the presence 
of food in the vicinity. 
Now as to their keenness of sight and prompt- 
ness in discovering their prey by that means. 
Last May, I sat in a tent skinning a Black 
Vulture. In plain view and distant somewhat 
over half a mile was Buzzard Island, with some 
forty or fifty of the birds perched upon the tree- 
tops. As I removed the body and cast it 
through the entrance of the tent, eveiy broad 
wing was expanded and the whole flock came 
hurrying towards the blood}' carcass, even be- 
fore it had ceased to roll along the ground. 
O.&p. XII. A pr. 1837 p. g»/ 
I have met w^ only one other Virginia Kail 
which was founi^ dead under the telegraph 
wire. Still. from t.heir dislike to take wing 
they are not often s^n and may be more com- 
mon than I am aware \if. 

The Sense of Smell in the Black 
Vulture. 
BY WALTER HOXIE. 
On the 27th of April, 1887, 1 captured a young 
Black Vulture which could not have been at 
tliat time more than two days old. When he 
Inid attained the age of three weeks I sub- 
mitted liim to a course of experiments in order 
to ascertain whether or no he possessed the 
sense of smell. The results up to the present 
time. May 29th, 1887, are all on the negative 
side of the question. 
On May 20th he had been purposely kept 
two days without food but was liberally sup- 
idied with water. lie was confined in a box 
with a slatted top one foot square and two feet 
five inches long. Upon showing myself near 
the box he displayed great excitement and 
eagerness, pushing his head between the slats 
and grasping every object placed within his 
i-each with hungry eagerness. After being 
duped several times with chips, oyster shells 
and bits of stick he became sulky at so many 
disappointments and refused to grasp anything 
offered to him. While in this state of mind 
a putrid crab w'as slowly brought by an assis- 
tant from a distance of seventy-one yards to 
windward of his box and placed on the lee side 
at first. The same system of teasing was still 
carried on and the crab passed round to wind- 
ward. Still he showed no sign that he was 
aware of any food being at hand. Then I 
cautiously raised both hands above the edge 
of the box, the one holding an oyster shell and 
the other the crab. Before I could drop the 
iatter he snatched it from my grasp and pro- 
ceeded to regale himself witli every sign of 
extreme satisfaction. After disposing of this 
tidbit he was heartily fed. No more was given 
him till the 23d. On tiie morning of that day 
tiie skinned and partially disembowelled bodies 
of three small herons were laid on a work 
bench one foot and ten inches above the top of 
his box. These bodies were not very odorifer- 
ous at this time, but in a few hours they be- 
came extremely so. I did not approach the 
box or tease him on this occasion, but listened 
from the room where I was at work for any 
609. The Carrion Crow. {Cathartes atratus.) By Byrne. Forest > 
and Stream, XX, No. 3. p. 45.— Account of its habits as observed at *> 
Crockett’s Bluff, Ark. 
1018. [A Black Vulture iu Vermont.^ By [C. W.] Graham. Ibicl.^ 
p. 4. — Record of a specimen shot at Woodbury, Vt., about July lo, 1884. ; 
Sandt Notes Uat. HiSt \ <'Uo. 9- 
leSo. Vultures Discover Carrion by the Sense of Smell. By \V. C. A. 
[=W. C. Avery]. Ibid., No. 12, Sept. 17, p. 269. (See also No. 
14, Oct. I, p. 31S.) Aroerioan Field,. XXVIII 
612. Black Vulture in Northern Dakota. By George A. Boardman. 
Ibid., No. 6, p. 106. 'Foic, Stream. Yoi.XX 
sounds of excitement. Late in the afternoon 
his unmistakable voice was heard, and he was 
found reaching upward with eagerness and 
plainly indicating that he was aware that there 
was food upon the bench. Almost at the same 
instant a drop of blood fell upon his box. He 
scraped eagerly at it with his bill and then 
looked upward again for more. I now moved 
the bodies a few inches to one side and wiped 
up the blood which had tiickled down through 
a crack. As long as I was iu sight he kept up 
his noise and antics, but when I went away he 
was still again. In about an hour’s time I fed 
him, and he has been bountifully supplied ever 
since. This afternoon a dish containing the 
still warm entrails of two fowls was covered 
and placed in his box. He showed no curiosity 
as to the contents until the cover was removed. 
I thought he could not be at all hungry but 
judging from the speed with which the viands 
disappeared they did not come at all amiss. 
My conviction is as before expressed that 
the Black Vulture is not capable of detecting 
its food by the scent. I shall not consign this 
lovely pet to his native wilds for some time to 
come and if I should detect any symptoms, as 
he grows older, of a development of the sense 
of smell, I shall not fail to make the fact 
known through the medium of the O. and O. 
O.& O. XILAug, 1S87 P. JSJI. 
