354 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Alexander Wilson describes with great niiuiueuess a scene he witnessed 

 near Charleston, where the carcass of a horse was devoured by these birds, 

 the ground for hundreds of yards around being black with them. He 

 counted at one time two hundred and thirty-seven, while others were in tlie 

 air Hying around. He ventured within a few yards of the horse without 

 their heeding his presence. They frequently attacked one another, fighting 

 with tlieir claws and striking with their ojjen wings, fixing their claws in 

 each other's head. They made a hissing sound with ojjen mouths, resem- 

 bling that produced by thrusting a red-hot poker into water, and occasionally 

 a snuffling noise, as if clearing their nostrils. At times one would emerge 

 M-ith a large fragment, and in a moment would be surrounded liy several 

 others, who would tear it in pieces and soon cause it to disapjiear. 



The Black Vulture breeds on or near the ground in the same manner as 

 the Turkey-Buzzard, in hollow logs, decayed trunks of trees, and stumps, 

 and also without this protection, the liare earth only being made use of. It 

 is said to make no nest. The eggs seldom, if ever, exceed two in number. 

 These are greater, both in their length and capacit)', than tliose of the Turkey- 

 Buzzard, although the measurements of the birds themselves would seem to 

 show the latter to be apparently tlie larger bird. The average weight of the 

 Black Vulture's egg, however, is about one pound, or fifteen per cent greater 

 than that of the Buzzard. Three from Charleston, Galveston, and the liio 

 Grande furnish the following measurements : 3.81 inches by 1.94 ; 3 by 2.06 ; 

 3.06 by 1.94. The principal difierence between the eggs of this and the pre- 

 ceding species is in regard to their size. Their ground-color is the same, or 

 nearly the same, — a yellowish-white or cream-color, almost never a pure 

 white, and only in exceptional cases. The eggs are more elongate in their 

 shajto, and tlie blotches are usually larger. Tliese are of a dark reddish- 

 brown, confluent, and chiefly distributed around the larger end. There are 

 also markings, smaller and less frequent, of lilac and jnirplish-drab, similar 

 to those noticed in the eggs of C. aura. An egg from the l!io Grande is 

 marked with small spots of reddish-brown and obscure lilac, equally dis- 

 tributed over the whole surface on a ground of cream-color. 



Mr. Audubon is positive that this ^'ulture never breeds in trees, and that 

 they never build any nest, but deposit their eggs on the ground, on a dead 

 log, or in a hollow tree. Twenty-one days are required for hatching their 

 eggs, on wliieh the male and female sit by turns and feed each other. The 

 young are covered with a light cream-colored down, and are fed with regur- 

 gitated food, in the manner of Pigeons. As soon as they are able, they 

 follow tlieir ]iarents through the woods, at which jieriod their entire head 

 and neck, which afterwards become bare, are covered with featheis. 



