T H E T U R K E Y B U Z Z A R D .
THARTESA RA, ILLIG.
P L A T E C L L MALE AND YOUNG.
HAVING already, when speaking of the Black Vulture, described the
•habits of the Turkey Buzzard, I shall here merely add a few observations
necessary to complete its history.
This species is far from being known throughout the United States,
•for it has never been seen farther eastward than the confines of New Jersey.
None, I believe, have been observed in New York; and on asking
about it in Massachusetts and Maine, I found that, excepting those persons
acquainted with our birds generally, none knew it. On my late
northern journeys I nowhere saw it. A very few remain and spend the
winter in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, where I have seen them only
during summer, and where they breed. As we proceed farther south,
they become more and more abundant. They are equally attached to
maritime districts, and the vicinity of the sea-shore, where they find abundance
of food.
The flight of the Turkey Buzzard is graceful compared with that of
the Black Vulture. It sails admirably either high or low, with its wings
spread beyond the horizontal position, and their tips bent upward by the
weight of the body. After rising from the ground, which it does at a
single spring, it beats its wings only a very few times, to enable it to proceed
in its usual way of sailing. Like the Black Vultures, they rise high
in the air, and perform large circles, in company with those birds, the
Fork-tailed Hawk, Mississippi Kite, and the two species of Crow. The
Hawks, however, generally teaze them, and force them off toward the
ground.
They are gregarious, feed on.all sorts of food, and suck the eggs and
devour the young of many species of Heron and other birds. In the
Floridas, I have, when shooting, been followed by some of them, to watch
the spot where I might deposit my game, which, if not carefully covered,
they would devour. They also eat birds of their own species, when they
find them dead. They are more elegant in form than the Black Vultures,
and walk well on the ground or the roofs of houses. They are daily seen
in the streets of the southern cities, along with their relatives, and often
roost with them on the same trees. They breed on the ground, or at the
bottom of hollow trees and prostrate trunks, and lay only two eggs.
These are large, of a light cream-colour, splashed toward the great
end with large irregular markings of black and brown. The young
somewhat resemble those of the Black Vulture, and take a long time before
they can fly. Both species drink water freely, and in doing this immerse
their bill to the base, and take a long draught at a time. They
both breed at the same period, or nearly so, and raise only one brood in
the season.
I have found birds of this species apparently very old, with the upper
parts of their mandibles, and the wrinkled skin around their eyes, so
diseased as to render them scarcely able to feed amongst others, all of
which seldom failed to take advantage of their infirmities. I have represented
the adult male in full plumage, along with a young bird, procured
in the autumn of its first year. The average weight of a full grown bird
is 6£ lb., about 1 lb. less than that of the Carrion Crow.
CATHARTES AURA, ILLIGER, Prodr. p. 236—Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the
United States, p. 22.—Richards, and Swains. Fauna Boreali-Amer. part ii. p. 4.
TURKEY VULTURE or TURKEY BUZZARD, VULTUR AURA, WUS. Amer. Ornith.
vol. ix. p. 9G, pi. 75« tig. 1.—Nutall, Manual, part i. p. 43.
Adult Male. Plate CLI. Fig. 1.
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Bill nearly as long as the head, strong, straight at the base, compressed
; the upper mandible covered beyond the middle by the cere, its dorsal
outline nearly straight, being slightly undulated, its tip large, curved,
and pointed, and of a honey hardness; the edge with a slight undulation
; lower mandible with the end rounded, and having a broad groove.
Nostrils medial, approximate, oblong, pervious, of very large size, and
forming an open space, into which posteriorly open the two nasal tubes,
which are furnished each with a valve. Head elongated, small, neck
rather long, body robust. Feet strong; tarsus roundish, covered with
small hexagonal scales; toes scutellate above, the middle one much longer,
the two lateral nearly equal, and united to the middle one at the base
by a web, the hind-toe small. Claws arched, strong, acute, that of the
hind-toe smallest.
Plumage rather compact, with ordinary lustre, the back somewhat