. Wanderings in South America, the north-west of the United States, and the Antilles, in the years 1812, 1816, 1820, & 1824 [microform] : with original instructions for the perfect preservation of birds &c. for cabinets of natural history. Voyages and travels; Zoology; Voyages; Zoologie. wmM. ilM'gai8tet«tfea«^<iM,!r«ffMrrB^^ THIRD JOUBNET. 181 froga; I have watched them for hours together, but never could see them touch any living animals, though innumerable lizards, frogs, and small birds swarmed all around them. I have killed lizards and frogs, and put them in a proper
. Wanderings in South America, the north-west of the United States, and the Antilles, in the years 1812, 1816, 1820, & 1824 [microform] : with original instructions for the perfect preservation of birds &c. for cabinets of natural history. Voyages and travels; Zoology; Voyages; Zoologie. wmM. ilM'gai8tet«tfea«^<iM,!r«ffMrrB^^ THIRD JOUBNET. 181 froga; I have watched them for hours together, but never could see them touch any living animals, though innumerable lizards, frogs, and small birds swarmed all around them. I have killed lizards and frogs, and put them in a proper place for observation j as soon as thej^ began to stink, the aura vulture invariably came and took them off. I have fre^iuently observed, that thet day after the planter had burnt the trash in a cane-field, the aura vulture was sure to be there, feeding on the snakes, lizards, and frogs which had suffered in the conflagration. I often saw a large bird (very much like the common gregarious vulture at a distance) catch and devour lizards; after shooting one, it turned out to be not a vulture, but a hawk, with a tail squarer and shorter than hawks have in general. The valtures, like the goatsucker and woodpecker, seem to be in dis- grace with man. They are generally termed a voracious, stinking, cruel, and ignoble tribe. Under these im- pressions, the fowler discharges his gun at them, and probably thinks he has done well in ridding the earth of such vermin. Some governments impose a fine on him who kills a vulture. This is a salutary law, and it were to bo wished that other governments would follow so good an example. I would fain here say a word or two in favour of this valuable scavenger. Kind Providence has conferred a blessing on hofc countries in giving them the vulture; he has ordered it to consume that which, if left to dissolve in putre- faction, would infect the ^air and produce a pestilence. When fiill of food, the vulture certainly appears an indolent bird ; he will
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Keywords: ., bookcentury180, booksubjectvoyagesandtravels, booksubjectzoology
