8 
CATHARTES AURA. 
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 following invective against the whole frater- 
nity : — “ In every part of the globe they are voracious, 
slothful, offensive, and hateful, and, like the wolves, are 
as noxious during their life, as useless after their death.” 
If Kolben’s account of the ferocity of his eagle, f 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 inhabi- 
tants of our southern continent, 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 naturalists 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 credu- 
lous 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 feet two inches in breadth ; the bill from the 
corner of the mouth is almost two inches and a half 
long, of a dark horn colour for somewhat more than an 
inch from the tip, the nostril a remarkably wide slit, or 
opening through it ; the tongue is greatly concave, car- 
tilaginous, and finely serrated on its edges ; ears inclin- 
ing to oval ; eyes dark, in some specimens reddish hazel ; 
* 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. 
