BLACK VULTURE 35 



J. D. Figgins (1923) found that black vultures in the neighbor- 

 hood of Bird Island, La., were very destructive in some of the heron 

 rookeries and stated that "it is a frequent occurrence to ob- 

 serve a vulture with a struggling young heron dangling from its 

 beak * * *. In regions where cattle raising has replaced the 

 cultivation of rice, the Black Vulture is credited with considerable 

 damage to the herds by tearing the eyes from calves at the time of 

 birth and instances are cited of a like treatment accorded cows while 

 in a weakened condition. I personally saw one of these tear the 

 tail from a small pig, and was informed that the practice was of 

 too common occurrence to excite comment." O. E. Baynard (1909) 

 reported that these birds were very destructive to young pigs and 

 lambs in Florida, and he has known them to take young chickens. 

 Young^ herons are frequently devoured. Audubon (1840) says of 

 his experience with the bird in Florida: "I observed them many 

 times devouring young cormorants and herons in the nest." 



The United States Biological Survey recommends local control 

 where "through their predatory habits and concentrated numbers, 

 both turkey buzzards and black vultures have become a menace to 

 new-born pigs, calves, lambs, and kids" (Redington, 1932). 



Although it is common knowledge that black vultures eagerly de- 

 vour fresh meat at butchers' stalls, C. J. Maynard (1896) says of 

 this vulture that they "are more emphatically carrion feeders than 

 the latter described species [turkey vulture] and will seldom eat 

 fresh meat but prefer to wait until decomposition has set in before 

 beginning their feast. Thus I have frequently seen the Turkey 

 Buzzards gather around the freshly skinned carcass of an alligator, 

 and eagerly devour the flesh, while the Black-heads would wait 

 until it had lain for a day or two in the broiling sun before they 

 would attack it; then, when the odor from the decaying mass 

 became insufferable to human nostrils, they would eat to re- 

 pletion. * * * They not only eat decomposed meat but feed 

 upon animal excrement and various kinds of offal." 



Behavior. — When a carcass of an animal is discovered, black vul- 

 tures gather at the feast, which in many cases they must share and 

 fight for, not only among themselves, but with turkey vultures and 

 sometimes with eagles and dogs. Alexander Wilson's (1832) classic 

 description of one of these feasts on a dead horse near Charleston, 

 S. C, is well worth quoting: 



The ground, for a hundred yards around it, was black with carrion crows; 

 many sat on the tops of sheds, fences, and houses within sight; sixty or eighty 

 on the opposite side of a small run. I counted at one time two hundred and 

 thirty-seven, but I believe there were more, besides several in the air over my 

 head, and at a distance. I ventured cautiously within thirty yards of the 

 carcass, whei'e three or four dogs and twenty or thirty vultures, were busy 



