heavy sluggish
gait. The boys, who had waited patiently, now ran forward; and, finding
that the vultures were unable to rise into the air, after a chase--in
which Marengo took a prominent part--secured them both.

But they did not hold them long; for the moment that Francois, who was
the most eager to seize them, laid his hands upon one, he let it go
again with an exclamation of disgust; and ran faster from the vulture,
than the latter could run from him!

The fetid odour of the creatures--which was quite as strong as that of
the carrion itself--was too much for the olfactory nerves of our heroes;
and they were all three glad enough to let the king-vultures off without
a second encounter.

As they returned to their horses, they observed that the buzzards and
black vultures were once more collecting about the remains of the
big-horn. They had been joined by several prairie-wolves; and these
were snarling and snapping--now driving off the birds, and now receiving
a blow from the long wings of the latter, that caused them to growl more
fiercely than ever. Our adventurers did not wait for the _finale_ of
this hideous scene; but remounting, once more headed their horses to the
prairie.

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.

MORE TALK ABOUT THE VULTURES.

They conversed about the vultures, as they rode away from the butte.
The naturalist of the party had much to say of these picturesque birds;
and the curiosity of Basil and Francois had been excited by the
appearance of a species new to them--the king himself.

"With regard to the vultures," observed Lucien, "the study of their
natural history has been considerably impeded by the closet-naturalists,
and particularly by the Frenchmen--who are fonder than all others of
making a parade of science, by the absurd multiplication of genera and
species. This, in the absence of any real knowledge of the habits of
the animals, gives them an opportunity of adding something to what has
been already said; and leaves the reader under the impression that these
learned anatomists know all about the thing; and that is what such
gentlemen desire, and nothing more.

"There are not over two dozen species of vultures in the world; and yet
the French naturalists make almost as many genera of them, multiplying
high-sounding names to such an extent, that the mind of the student is
quite bewildered with what would otherwise prove a most simple study.

"All the vultures are so similar in their _phy