From this examination, it will now be more probable that the luminousness of the eyes of human beings, as well as of beasts, depends on the want of the pigment, and so much the more from being observed only in the albino. With this view of the matter, the two cases already quoted of Sachs and Michaelis are indeed at variance. I must confess that I have read and considered these cases with some degree of interest. Are they really fictions? When we read of the shape of fiery coruscations, or balls in the eyes, of their rolling round, of their frequently darting forth rays an inch long, our suspicions are surely pardonable.

As to the different colours of the light in the eyes of dogs, it is owing to the different colouring of the place where the pigment is awanting in the choroid,—a fact of which anatomical experiments on the eye of these animals has convinced me; and hence the varied colour of the light of one and the same eye may be owing more to the motion of that part where the rays of light are reflected upon different coloured portions of the choroid, than to the quantity of the incident rays of light.

Finally, there is no question but the light observed in the eyes of some beasts of prey, as well as in those of birds, has the origin above ascribed to it; and its nature is neither phosphoric nor electrical, nor has it any psychological relation.

Account of the Habits of the Turkey Buzzard (Vultur aura), particularly with the view of exploding the opinion generally entertained of its extraordinary power of Smelling. In a letter to Professor JAMESON, by JOHN J. AUDUBON, a Citizen of the United States *.

As soon as, like me, you shall have seen the Turkey Buzzard

follow, with arduous closeness of investigation, the skirts of the forests, the meanders of creeks and rivers, sweeping over the whole of extensive plains, glancing his quick eye in all directions, with as much intentness as ever did the noblest of falcons, to discover where below him lies the suitable prey ;-when, like

* This communication was originally intended to be sent to a friend unacquainted with the habits of birds.-J. J. A.

me, you have repeatedly seen that bird pass over objects calculated to glut his voracious appetite unnoticed, because unseen; and when you have also observed the greedy vulture propelled by hunger, if not famine, moving like the wind suddenly round his course as the carrion attracts his eye,-then will you abandon the deeply-rooted notion that this bird possesses the faculty of discovering, by his sense of smell, his prey at an immense dis

tance.

This power of smelling so of smelling so acutely I adopted as a fact from my youth. I had read of this when a child; and many of the theorists to whom I subsequently spoke of it, repeated the same with enthusiasm, the more particularly as they considered it an extraordinary gift of nature. But I had already observed, that Nature, although wonderfully bountiful, had not granted more to any one individual than was necessary, and that no one was possessed of any two of the senses in a very high state of perfection; that if it had a good scent, it needed not so much acuteness of sight, and vice versa. When I visited the Southern States, and had lived, as it were, amongst these vultures for several years, and discovered thousands of times that they did not smell me when I approached them covered by a tree, until within a few feet, and that when so near, or at a greater distance, I shewed myself to them, they instantly flew away much frightened, the idea evaporated, and I assiduously engaged in a series of experiments to prove, to myself at least, how far this acuteness of smell existed, or if it existed at all.

I sit down to communicate to you the results of those experiments, and leave for you to conclude how far, and how long, the world has been imposed on by the mere assertions of men who had never seen more than the skins of our vultures, or heard the accounts from men caring little about observing nature closely.

My first experiment was as follows:

I procured a skin of our common deer, entire to the hoofs, and stuffed it carefully with dried grass until filled rather above the natural size,-suffered the whole to become perfectly dry, and as hard as leather,—took it to the middle of a large open field,— laid it down on its back with the legs up and apart, as if the animal

was dead and putrid. I then retired about a few hundred yards, and, in the lapse of some minutes, a vulture, coursing round the field, tolerably high, espied the skin, sailed directly towards it, and alighted within a few yards of it. I ran immediately, covered by a large tree, until within about forty yards, and from that place could spy the bird with ease. He approached the skin,-looked at it without apparent suspicion,jumped on it,-raised his tail, and voided itself freely (as, you well know, all birds of prey in a wild state generally do before feeding), then approaching the eyes, that were here solid globes of hard dried and painted clay, attacked first one and then the other, with, however, no further advantage than that of disarranging them. This part was abandoned; the bird walked to the other extremity of the pretended animal, and there, with much exertion, tore the stitches apart, until much fodder and hay was pulled out, but no flesh could the bird find, or smell; he was intent on discovering some where none existed, and, after reiterated efforts, all useless, he took flight, coursed about the field, when, suddenly rounding and falling, I saw him kill a small garter snake, and swallow it in an instant. The vulture rose again, sailed about, and passed several times quite low over my stuffed deer skin, as if loath to abandon so good-looking a prey.

Judge of my feelings when I plainly saw that the vulture which could not discover, through its extraordinary sense of smell, that no flesh, either fresh or putrid, existed about that skin, could, at a glance, see a snake scarcely as large as a man's finger, alive and destitute of odour, hundreds of yards distant. I concluded that, at all events, his ocular powers were much bet ter than his sense of smell.

Second Experiment.-I had a large dead hog hauled some distance from the house, and put into a ravine, about twenty feet deeper than the surface of the earth around it, narrow and winding, much filled with briars and high cane. In this I made the negroes conceal the hog, by binding cane over it, until I thought it would puzzle either buzzards, carrion crows, or any other birds, to see it, and left it for two days. This was early in the month of July, when in this latitude a dead body

becomes putrid and extremely fetid in a short time. I saw, from time to time, many vultures in search of food sail over the field and ravine in all directions, but none discovered the carcass, although, during this time, several dogs had visited it, and fed plentifully on it. I tried to go near it, but the smell was so in. sufferable when within thirty yards, that I abandoned it, and the remnants were entirely destroyed at last through natural decay.

I then took a young pig, put a knife through its neck, and made it bleed on the earth and grass about the same place, and having covered it closely with leaves, also watched the result. The vultures saw the fresh blood, alighted about it, followed it down into the ravine, discovered by the blood the pig, and devoured it, when yet quite fresh, within my sight..

Not contented with these experiments, which I already thought fully conclusive, having found two young vultures, about the size of pullets, covered yet with down, and looking more like quadrupeds than birds, I had them brought home and put into a large coop in the yard, in the view of every body, and attended to their feeding myself. I gave them a great number of red-headed woodpeckers and parokeets, birds then easy to procure, as they were feeding daily on the mulberry trees in the immediate neighbourhood of my orphans.

These the young vultures could tear to pieces by putting both feet on the body, and applying the bill with great force. So accustomed to my going towards them were they in a few days, that, when I approached the cage with hands filled with game for them, they immediately began hissing and gesticulating very much like young pigeons, and putting their bills towards each other, as if expecting to be fed mutually, as their parent had done. Two weeks elapsed; black feathers made their appearance, and the down diminished. I remarked an extraordinary increase of their legs and bill; and thinking them fit for trial, I closed three sides of the cage with plank, leaving the front only with bars for them to see through;-had the cage cleaned, washed, and sanded, to remove any filth attached to it from the putrid flesh that had been in it, and turned its front immediately from the course I usually took towards it with food for them.

I approached it often bare-footed, and soon perceived that if I did not accidentally make a noise, the young birds remained in their silent upright attitudes, until I shewed myself to them by turning to the front of their prison. I frequently fastened a dead squirrel or rabbit, cut open, with all the entrails hanging loosely to a long pole, and in this situation would put it to the back part of the cage; but no hissing, no movement was made: when, on the contrary, I presented the end of the pole, thus covered, over the cage, no sooner would it appear beyond the edge, than my hungry birds would jump against the bars, hiss furiously, and attempt all in their power to reach the food. This was repeatedly done with fresh and putrid substances, all very congenial to their taste.

Satisfied within myself, I dropped these trials, but fed them until full grown, and then turned them out into the yard of the kitchen, for the purpose of picking up whatever substances might be thrown to them. Their voracity, however, soon caused their death young pigs were not safe if within their reach; and young ducks, turkeys or chickens, were such a constant tempta tion, that the cook, unable to watch them, killed them both, to put an end to their depredations.

Whilst I had these two young vultures in confinement, an extraordinary occurrence took place respecting an old bird of the same kind, which I cannot help relating to you. This bird, sailing over the yard, whilst I was experimenting with the pole and squirrels, saw the food, and alighted on the roof of one of the outhouses; then alighted on the ground, walked directly to the cage, and attempted to reach the food within. I approached it carefully, and it hopped off a short distance; as I retired, it returned, when always the appearances of the strongest congra-, tulations would take place from the young towards this new..; comer. I directed several young negroes to drive it gently towards the stable, and to try to make it go in there. This would noti do; but, after a short time, I helped to drive it into that part of the gin-house where the cotton-seeds are deposited, and there caught it. I easily discovered that the bird was so emaciated, that to this state of poverty only I owed my success. I put it in with the young, who both at once jumped about him, making most extraordinary gestures of welcome; whilst the old