LAND BIRDS. 



255 



Fig. 67. Turkey Buzzard. Adult. 

 From photograph of mounted specimen. (Original.) 



Saskatchewan region and British Columbia, southward to Patagonia and 

 the Falkland Islands. 



In Michigan the Turkey Buzzard is practically confined to the two 

 southernmost tiers of counties, although it is found sparingly throughout 

 two tiers farther north and 

 wanders occasionally all over 

 the state. Being a bird of re- 

 markable powers of flight and 

 by no means sensitive to cold, 

 it is not surprising that single 

 individuals often extend their 

 wanderings even to the shores 

 of Lake Superior. We have 

 records from nearly all the 

 counties in the southern half 

 of the Lower Peninsula, and 

 reports of single specimens seen 

 or taken in half a dozen 

 localities farther north. 



At Port Huron, Mr. Hazel- 

 wood states that he sees from 

 one to five every spring. We 

 have a specimen in the College 

 collection, taken at Riley, Clin- 

 ton Co. ; we examined a speci- 

 men at Harrisville, Alcona Co., 



taken near that place; and a description of one killed near Benzonia, Benzie 

 Co., was sent us several years ago. We also have a specimen taken at 

 the Agricultural College, and Mr. C. J. Davis, of Lansing, has one in his 

 collection, which was killed at Fowlerville, Livingston county. There is 

 a specimen in the Broas Collection (now in the College Museum), 

 taken in Ionia county, and it has been recorded several times from Kent 

 county. Mr. Ed. Van Winkle, of Vans Harbor, writes that he has seen 

 about a dozen specimens in Delta county (Upper Peninsula) during the 

 past fifteen years; and Mr. Thomas B. Wyman, of Negaunee, Mich., writes 

 that a specimen was seen there June 20, 1905, by Mr. E. A. Doolittle. 

 of Painsville, Ohio, who knows the species well and could not be mistaken. 

 Incidentally it may be noted that J. H. Fleming has recorded a specimen 

 taken at Moose Factory, James Bay, in June 1898 (Auk, XX, 66). 



The nesting habits are somewhat pecuhar. The birds commonly nest 

 in a hollow tree, the hollow of a fallen log., the arched cavity beneath a large 

 stump, or a small cave or pocket in a ledge of rocks. Some times the eggs 

 are laid in the hollow top of a sycamore stub fifty feet or more from the 

 ground, but more often they are placed on or near the ground in some 

 such place as just indicatecl. There are several well attested instances 

 of nests found in ^Michigan, and probably in the counties bordering Indiana 

 and Ohio considerable numbers nest every year. Jerome Trombloy states 

 that a pair nests regularly in a hollow sycamore near the Raisin River 

 at Petersburg, Monroe county, and that other pairs have nested in that 

 vicinity. iNIay 30, 1903, a nest with two eggs was found in a swamp near 

 Freedom, Washtenaw county, by Mr. John Uphaus, and the birds have 

 nested in that vicinity regularly for several years. Mr. S. E. White and E. 

 Durfee took two eggs at Douglas, Allegan county, in 1891. 



