is, in a part of America called Louisiana, ornamented with the feathers of a particularly beautiful and rare species of White Eagle, called the Conciliating Eagle. In another part of America called California, and indeed amongst many other tribes of that vast continent, the Indians, when in their full dress, wear an Eagle's feather fastened to the top of their heads as a mark of nobility; and singularly enough a similar custom prevailed, and, on occasions of ceremony, still prevails amongst the Highland chiefs of Scotland, handed down from time. immemorial: the plume of the Erne, or Great Sea Eagle, being the distinguishing mark of the head of a clan, and even of the kings of Scotland. Many of our readers will, doubtless, remember the beautiful passage of Sir Walter Scott, in the Lady of the Lake, when

"Fitz James alone wore cap and plume,

And Snowdown's knight was Scotland's king."

CHAPTER VII.

Vultures.-Loathsome Feeders.-Strength of.-Snake-Eater.-Mode of Killing Serpents.—Hawks.—Character of.-Hawking for Bustards.— Value of.-Iceland Falcons much prized.-Falconry in Former Days. -Contest with Herons.-Modes of Catching.-The Sparrow-Hawk.Anecdotes.-The Glede, or Kite.-Herons.-Food of the Hawk Tribe. -Their Disposition.-The Hawks sacred to the Egyptians and Turks. VULTURES are nearly allied to the Eagles in point of size and some of their habits; they yet differ from them considerably in others; generally speaking, they may be easily distinguished by the head and part of the neck being either quite naked or

covered with a short down. Instead of ranging over hill and valley in pursuit of living game, they confine their search to dead and putrefying carcases, which they prefer; and justly

merit, by the voracity with which they devour the most offensive carrion, the name of Scavengers in some countries, where they are never destroyed, in consequence of the good they do, by consuming the bodies of animals that might, but for the assistance of the Vultures, breed a pestilence in the hot climates where they most abound. A traveller in Africa having killed two buffaloes, and directed his party to cut them up piecemeal, and hang the various joints on the branches round their tents, that they might be dried up under the scorching beams of a burning sun, found himself suddenly surrounded by a flight of these birds, who actually carried off the flesh, notwithstanding the efforts made to drive away or destroy them by shouting, throwing, or even shooting at them. As fast as one dropped, another supplied his place. Another English traveller, who marched for some days with an army in Abyssinia, in a different part of Africa, speaks of their numbers as to be compared to the sand of the sea, extending over the troops like a black cloud; they were also more courageous than some other species; for he once saw one strike an Eagle to the ground which had accidentally straggled into a host of Vultures, assembled to feed on the dead soon after a battle.

They are, however, sometimes more dainty in their choice of food; as in Egypt, where, during the season when crocodiles and alligators lay their eggs in the sand, these cunning birds will sit, hid in the leaves of the trees, watching the females coming on shore to lay their eggs, which, when laid, they cover carefully with sand, thinking, no doubt, that they are thus safe from all danger, and sure to be hatched in regular course of time by the warmth of the soil, heated as it is by the sun; but no sooner do they retire, than the concealed birds glide down, and with claws, wings, and beak, tear away the sand, and quickly devour the hidden treasures.

Naturalists are a good deal divided as to the faculty by which these birds are enabled to discover, in a most surprising manner, a dead or dying animal at the distance of even many miles.

In travelling over the immensely wide deserts of Africa,

where there is not a blade of grass to tempt a living bird or animal, and no inducement therefore for birds of prey to scour those vast wildernesses in search of game, should a camel or other beast of burden drop under its load in the train of a caravan, in less than half an hour there will be seen, high in the air, a number of the smallest specks, moving slowly round in circles, and gradually growing larger and larger as they descend in spiral windings towards the earth; these are the Vultures, but whence they come, or by what sign or call they are collected at a height beyond the reach of the human eye, is still a mystery; though we are much inclined to suspect that they derive their information from an indiscriminate use of both these senses, possessed of an acuteness far beyond our experience or comprehension.

Instances without number might be mentioned, in which the gifts of sight and smelling seem to rival each other. We will add the following respecting the power of each, related by an intelligent observer of nature in Jamaica: two relating to the sense of smelling, the two others to that of sight, and a third including both, with the addition of hearing. A poor German emigrant, who lived alone in a detached cottage, rose from his bed after a two days' confinement by fever, to purchase in the market some fresh meat for a little soup, but before he could do more than prepare the several ingredients of herbs and roots, and put his meat in order for the preparation of his pottage, the paroxysm of fever returned, and he laid himself on his bed exhausted. Two days passed in this state of helplessness, by which time the mess of meat and pot-herbs had putrefied. The stench becoming very perceptible in the neighbourhood, Vulture after Vulture, as they sailed past, was observed always to descend to the cottage of the German, and to sweep round, as if they were aware of some putrid carcase, but could not find out where it was. This at length led the neighbours to suspect that the poor man lay dead in his cottage, as no one had seen him for the last two or three days. His door was therefore broken open, when he was found in a state of extreme feebleness; but the room was

most insufferably offensive from something putrefying, which could not for a length of time be found; for the fever having nearly deprived the poor man of his senses, he had no recollection of his uncooked mess of meat and herbs, and as no one thought that the kitchen pot could contain anything likely to produce putrefaction, search was made everywhere but in the right place. At last, however, the pot-lid was lifted, and the cause of the insupportable stench discovered in the corrupted soup-meat. Here we have, then, clearly proved that the sense of smelling directed the Vultures, without any assistance from the sense of sight, in discovering unerringly the locality of the putrid matter, when even the neighbours themselves were unable for some time to detect it.

A few days succeeding this occurrence, after a night and morning of heavy rain, in which the streets had been inundated to the depth of a foot, and flood after flood had been sweeping to the river the drainage of the whole town, a piece of fresh offal had been brought down from some of the yards where an animal had been slaughtered, and lodged in the street. A Vulture, beating about in search of food, dashed down in a slanting direction from a considerable height, and just resting, without closing her wings, snatched up the fresh piece of flesh, and carried it off. Here was the sense of sight clearly unassisted by that of smelling, for the meat was too fresh to communicate any taint to the morning air, and the Vulture stooped to it from a great distance.

On another occasion, very near to the time when the above two facts occurred, a dead rat had been thrown out early in the morning into the street, having been caught in the night. Two Vultures sailing overhead, in quest of a morning meal, descended at the same time, stooping to the dead rat, the one from the north, the other from the south, both seizing the object of attraction at the same moment.

In the last instance, the three senses of smelling, seeing, and hearing, were comparatively equally concerned, though not under the influence of the usual appetite for carrion food, as the object was a living, though wounded, animal. A person

H