590 THE TURKEY BUZZARD. 



hastily drew him up, and relieved him from his perilous sit- 

 uation at the moment when he expected to be precipitated 

 to the bottom. The doctor stated that so powerful was the 

 effect of the fear the soldier had experienced whilst in 

 danger, that ere three days had elapsed his hair had become 

 quite gray." (Audubon.) 



THE TURKEY BUZZARD. 



Fresh as of yesterday, among the early remmiscences of 

 bird-life in Northern Ohio is the magnificent flight of the 

 Turkey Buzzard {Cathartes aura). How smoothly and 

 noiselessly have I seen its great figure glide over the fields 

 and through the open woods, avoiding every obstacle, as it 

 curved from side to side and rose and fell with the utmost 

 ease and gracefulness. Most impressive of all, however, 

 were its grand circles, with almost motionless wings, as it 

 climbed to the most exalted regions of flight. Sometimes 

 I could see as many as a dozen, on some clear sunny morn- 

 ing in June, intersecting their wide and slowly described 

 circles, at so great a height, that but for one's knowledge of 

 the size of the birds, they might have been mistaken for some 

 small species of the feathered tribes. I know of few things 

 more tranquilizing and suggestive of sublime thoughts than 

 such a sight as this. But from this grand point of elevation 

 there is but a step to the most degraded and filthy associa- 

 tions. I am reminded, after all, that these are nothing but 

 ^' dirty Buzzards ;" and by that most potent law of the mind, 

 the association of ideas, my nostrils are regaled with the 

 vilest odors, and my eyes recall the most unsightly forms of 

 carrion. I transfer these birds of lofty flight to the ground, 

 and think of them as cramming their craws with putrid 

 flesh, and moping around like drowsy gluttons till digestion 

 has labored through the nauseous mass,* or, on some dis- 



