Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1883-10-12
THE SCENT OF THE BUZzARD.

W me Juggling sweet potatoes
noticed Il very luxurious growth o.
the vines covering "a small mound il
the field. and inquiry revealed the
fact that horse and COW had beer
buried there some years before. JUS
then nothing impressed me in thai
connection save the immensity of the
potatoes which we found overlyine
these two graves, but in the Afternoon
and during the following day buz
yards shadowed the farm by scores
seeming TO obey from all quarters OF
the heavens a mysterious summons
to convocation. soon perceived the
potato field was the radiant point
OF each speeding shadow. Buzzard
after buzzafd l traced as they ap-
peared i'll various portions Of the skv
with half-folded wings, reminding me
OF mute aerial hounds, coming down
the SCENT their course as swift, al
lent and underwriting as an arrows.
1t was a strangely interesting specta
Gle to behold them swOop within a
few feet of the horse hades, and rise
again with slow, reluctant flaps, in
dicative of disappointment, then re-
turn to deliberately "beat'' and
''quarter' the ground, aerially speak
ing, with all the tact and perse vering
sagacity of their canine compeers; !;
in fact, the performance was sugges-
tive Of fox hunt, in which Reynard's s
place was represented by the dead
bodies. ''earthed'' in this case, how
ever. for other than Reynard's rea-
sons. One of the vultures in partic-
ular showed an extreme faith in the
guidance of its smelling powers by
alighting without demur on the fence
half dozen PAGES from the center of
attraction, where, after some time
OF manifest uneasiness and uncouth
posturing. it was joined by few of
its more dubious companions. This
visitation OF uncanny birds continued
long after, though l never saw so
many as at the first when the crop
was ploughed out, this disturbance
probably releasing for time the
pent-up odors. | could detect no
taint in the atmosphere of the place
even while working in the freshly
plowed ground. yet hundreds of buz-
yards assembled from far and near,
and with unerring accuracy pointed
out the place of burial with over
shndowing wings. In consequence
of these observations the theory that
the vulturo family are enabled to de-
tect the existe nee of dead body by
scent, unassisted by any of the re-
manning senses, and this. too, at great
distances, and when such carcass had
lain deep under the ground for many
years, was to me satisfactorily proved.
Gosse, as before stated. gives an in
stance confirmatory to the one just
related, justly attributing to the same
species of vulture this wondrous fac
ulty of tracking its prey from afar.
1t was observed in Jamacia: "A poor
German immigrant, who lived alone
in detached cottage in this town,
rose from his bed after a few days
confinement by fever to purchase in
the market some fresh meat for lit
tie soup. Before he could prepare
the several ingredients of herbs and
roots, and put his meat in water for
the preparation of his pottage, the
paroxysm of his fever had returned,
and he laid himself on his bed ex-
hausted. Two days elapsed in this
state of helplessness and inanimation,
by which time the mass of meat and
pot of herbs Lad purtrefied. The
stencil became very perceptible in the
neighborhood, vulture after vulture
as they sailed past were observed al
ways to descend to the cottage of the
German, and to sweep round as. if
they had tracked some putrid car
cass. but failed to find exactly where
it was The American Naturalist.