BLACK VULTURE 39 



in the morning they sat on, fence posts or walked about the planta- 

 tion in search of bits of food. At noon in fine weather they circled 

 high in the air, coming down toward evening for another walk. At 

 sunset they flew one after another to fence posts, thence to the top 

 of a large tree, where they waited until all were congregated. All 

 at once they flew to another tree and thence to another, until they 

 found one to suit their fancy. They seldom slept in the same tree 

 two nights in succession, though they always conmienced operations 

 from the same tree. Saunders continues: 



Butchering day, which occurs at irregular intervals, is the Important day in 

 the life of the Vulture. As soon as the men go down to the potrero to drive 

 up the cattle, they know what is coming. They gather together on the fence- 

 posts and shed-roofs, watching the movements of the men with an air of ex- 

 pectancy. Sometimes they wait for three or four hours before the butchering 

 is finished and the remains thrown out to them. Then there is an instantaneous 

 scramble. Each Vulture takes hold with his beak and begins to pull and hiss 

 and flap until the piece he holds breaks off, when it is swallowed as quickly 

 as possible and a fresh hold taken. At this rate the whole feast is consumed 

 in an hour or two, when the Vultures go back to the fence-posts and sit in 

 silence for the remainder of the day. 



Black vultures are very social in their habits and often resort to 

 regular roosts. One such I visited at Buzzard Isle, Lake lamonia, in 

 northern Florida. The roost was in big live oaks, mostly dead, and 

 at about 11 o'clock in the morning contained some 200 black vultures 

 and half a dozen turkey vultures. The birds did not leave when I 

 walked beneath them on a ground devoid of vegetation and covered 

 with their droppings and many bones. The odor was strong of a 

 chicken yard, but not of carrion. Toward sunset I saw from a dis- 

 tance a number of flocks of about 20 vultures each, sailing and 

 flapping high up toward the roost. On another occasion on the Ver- 

 milion Kiver, La., I passed at sunset about a hundred of these black 

 creatures sitting on the limbs of moss-draped cypresses, many more 

 in a nearby field and six or eight on the roof of a deserted house. 

 A short distance aw,ay several were perched on the floating body of 

 a dead cow. It was a mournful sight. 



Audubon (1840) describes a visit by John Bachman and himself 

 to a roost of black vultures that attended to the offal of Charleston, 

 S. C. This roost was in a sw,ampy wood of about two acres, across 

 the Ashley Kiver, two miles from the city. "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 estimated the number of vultures at 

 several thousands. 



