John Lonsdale reported that his Dracunculus vulgaris inflorescence was attacked by a large bird. I've never heard of this happening, but several possibilities come to mind. To keep the discussion interesting, let's assume the bird was actually going after the Dracunculus. It may come as a surprise to most people, but birds in general evidently do not have much of a sense of smell. Birds of prey do not use a sense of smell to find prey. However, there is one large bird in John's neighborhood which does find its food by its sense of smell - its sense of smell is so well developed that it has been shown able to find rotting meat hidden under a pile of leaves. It's not a bird of prey, it's the turkey vulture, Cathartes aura. Some studies suggest that these are not vultures at all but rather stork relatives (presumably related to the marabou branch of the stork tribe). Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where the turkey vultures come down for discarded meat when we clean the freezer. My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/