The Carrion Crows of Charleston resort at night to a swampy wood
across the Ashley river, about two miles from the city. I visited this roosting
place in company with my friend JOHN BACHMAN, approaching it by
a close thicket of undergrowth, tangled with vines and briars. When
nearly under the trees on which the birds were roosted, we found the
ground destitute of vegetation, and covered with ordure and feathers,
mixed with the broken branches of the trees. The stench was horrible. The
trees were completely covered with birds, from the trunk to the very tips
of the branches. They were quite unconcerned; but, having determined
to send them the contents of our guns, and firing at the same instant, we
saw most of them fly off, hissing, grunting, disgorging, and looking down
on their dead companions as if desirous of devouring them. We kept up
a brisk fusilade for several minutes, when they all flew off to a great distance
high in the air; but as we retired, we observed them gradually descending
and settling on the same trees. The piece of ground was about
two acres in extent, and the number of Vultures we estimated at several
thousands. During very wet weather, they not unfrequently remain the
whole day on the roost; but when it is fine, they reach the city every
morning by the first glimpse of day.
The flight of this species, although laboured, is powerful and protracted.
Before rising from the ground, they are obliged to take several leaps,
which they do in an awkward sidelong manner. Their flight is continued
by flappings, repeated eight or" ten times, alternating with sailings of from
thirty to fifty yards. The wings are disposed at right angles to the body,
and the feet protrude beyond the tail, so as to be easily seen. In calm
weather, they may be heard passing over you at the height of forty or
fifty yards; so great is the force with which they beat the air. When
about to alight, they allow their legs to dangle beneath, the better to enable
them to alight.
They feed on all sorts of flesh, fresh or putrid, whether of quadrupeds
or birds, as well as on fish. I saw a great number of them eating a dead
shark near the wharf at St Augustine in East Florida; and I observed
them many times devouring young cormorants and herons in the nest, on
the keys bordering that peninsula.
The Carrion Crow and Turkey Buzzard possess great power of recollection,
so as to recognise at a great distance a person who has shot at
them, and even the horse on which he rides. On several occasions I have
observed that they would fly off at my approach, after I had trapped
several, when they took no notice of other individuals; and they avoided
my horse in the pastures, after I had made use of him to approach and
shoot them.
At the commencement of the love season, which is about the beginning
of February, the gesticulation and parade of the males are extremely
ludicrous. They first strut somewhat in the manner of the Turkey
Cock, then open their wings, and, as they approach the female, lower their
head, its wrinkled skin becoming loosened, so as entirely to cover the bill,
and emit a puffing sound, which is by no means musical. When these
actions have been repeated five or six times, and the conjugal compact
sealed, the " happy pair" fly off, and remain together until their young
come abroad. These birds form no nest, and consequently never breed
on trees; the hollow of a prostrate log, or the excavation of a bank of
earth, suffices for them. They never lay more than two eggs, which are
deposited on the bare ground ; they are about three inches in length, rather
pointed at the smaller end, thick in the shell, with a pure white ground,
marked towards the greater ends with large irregular dashes of black and
dark brown. Twenty-one days are required for hatching them. The
male and female sit by turns, and feed each other. The young are at
first covered with a light cream-coloured down, and have an extremely
uncouth appearance. They are fed by regurgitation, almost in the same
manner as pigeons, and are abundantly supplied with food. When fledged,
which is commonly about the beginning of June, they follow their
parents through the woods. At this period, their head is covered with
feathers to the very mandibles. The plumage of this part gradually disappears,
and the skin becomes wrinkled ; but they are not in full plumage
till the second year. During the breeding season, they frequent the
cities less, those remaining at that time being barren birds, of which there
appear to be a good number. I believe that the individuals which are no
longer capable of breeding, spend all their time in and about the cities,
and roost on the roofs and chimneys. They go out, in company with the
Turkey Buzzards, to the yards of the hospitals and asylums, to feed on the
remains of the provisions cooked there, which are as regularly thrown out
to them.
I have represented a pair of Carrion Crows or Black Vultures in full
plumage, engaged with the head of our Common Deer, the Cervus virginkmus.