March 14th, 1837.--"A paper was read on the habits of the _Vultur Aura_, by Mr. W. Sells, with notes of the dissections of the heads of two specimens, by Mr. R. Owen. The writer states, that this bird is found in great abundance in the island of Jamaica, where it is known by the name of _John Crow_; and so valuable are its services in the removal of carrion and animal filth, that the legislature have imposed a fine of £5 upon any one destroying it within a stated distance of the principal towns. Its ordinary food is carrion, but when pressed hard with hunger, it will seize upon young fowls, rats, and snakes. After noticing the highly offensive odour emitted from the eggs of this bird when broken, Mr. Sells relates the following instances which have come under his own personal observation, for the purpose of proving that the _Vultur Aura_ possesses the sense of smell in a very acute degree. "It has been questioned whether the vulture discovers its food by means of the organ of smell or that of sight. I apprehend that its powers of vision are very considerable, and of most important use; but that it is principally from highly organized olfactories that it so speedily receives intelligence of where the savoury morsel is to be found, will plainly appear by the following facts. In hot climates, the burial of the dead commonly takes place in about twenty-four hours after death, and that necessarily, so rapidly does decomposition take place. On one occasion, I had to make a _post mortem_ examination of a body within twenty hours after death, in a mill-house completely concealed, and while so engaged the roof of the mill-house was thickly studded with these birds. Another instance was that of an old patient and much valued friend, who died at midnight; the family had to send for necessaries for the funeral to Spanish Town, distant thirty miles, so that the interment could not take place until noon of the second day, or thirty-six hours after his decease, long before which time--and a most painful sight it was--the ridge of the shingled roof of his house, a large mansion of but one floor, had a number of these melancholy heralds of death perched thereon, beside many more which had settled in trees in its immediate vicinity. In these cases, the birds must have been directed by smell alone, as sight was totally out of the question.