where there is a fine for killing
them. The consequence is, they are seldom molested; and in many places
are so tame, that they will permit you to come within a few feet of
them. In the cities and villages of the Southern States they alight in
the streets, and go to sleep upon the house-tops. They do the same in
the cities of Mexico and South America, where both species are also
found.

As soon as our young hunters had got opposite the cliff where the
vultures were, they reined up, determined to remain awhile, and watch
the manoeuvres of the birds. They were curious to see how the latter
would conduct themselves with a prey so singularly situated, as was the
carcass of the cimmaron. They did not dismount, but sat in their
saddles, about an hundred yards from the cliff. The vultures, of
course, did not regard their presence; but continued to alight, both
upon the escarpment of the precipice and upon the loose rocks at its
foot, as if no one was near.

"How very like the buzzards are to hen turkeys!" remarked Francois.

"Yes," rejoined Lucien, "that is the reason why they are called
`turkey-buzzards.'"

Francois' observation was a very natural one. There are no two birds,
not absolutely of the same species, that are more like each other than a
turkey-buzzard and a small-sized turkey-hen--that is, the common
domestic turkey of the black variety, which, like the buzzard, is
usually of a brownish colour. So like are they, that, at the distance
of a hundred yards, I have often taken the one for the other. This
resemblance, however, extends no farther than to the general
appearance--the shape and colour. In most other respects they differ,
as you may imagine, very materially.

"Talking of turkey-buzzards," continued Lucien, "reminds me of an
anecdote that is told in relation to one."

"Oh! let us have it, brother," said Francois.

"With pleasure," replied Lucien. "It is intended to illustrate the
superior cunning of the white over the Indian race; and is a pretty fair
sample of the honesty and justice which the former has too often
observed in its dealings with the latter. It is as follows:--

"A white man and an Indian went out together for a day's hunting. They
agreed that the game should be equally divided at night, no matter who
had killed the largest share of it. During the day the Indian shot a
turkey, and the white hunter a turkey-buzzard; and these two birds were
all that either of them were abl