THE ROBBERS OF THE FALLS 



kind reader, I beg of you, do, please, not shoot a hawk 

 because he is a hawk, but only if you are sure he is 

 the culprit. Learn from a handbook of birds to 

 distinguish the different kinds. You will enjoy their 

 acquaintance and then will not be in danger of mis- 

 taking your friend and helper for a murderer. 



Now and then we shall probably see a large black 

 bird with enormous spread of wing soaring on almost 

 motionless pinions, drifting easily along with the breeze. 

 It is the Turkey Vulture, or Turkey Buzzard, which is 

 classed in this group of raptorial birds. Though from 

 afar it would seem a beautiful creature, so graceful in 

 flight, it is distance which lends the enchantment, for 

 at close quarters it is a foul-smelling carrion-monger, 

 with an ugly, featherless red head and neck. Yet for 

 all that it is a useful scavenger and an interesting bird, 

 and I wish we had more of them in the northern dis- 

 tricts to give us exhibitions of graceful, easy flight. 

 They are accidental in New England, where I have 

 seen only two, but are more frequent in the Middle 

 States, and, of course, abundant in the South. They 

 build no nest, but lay their two large handsomely- 

 marked eggs on the ground under a bush, or in a 

 hollow log or stump. 



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