30 BULLETIN 16 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



her balance, she flopped to another branch and was followed by the male, 

 who continued to hold his wings above his back m such a manner that the 

 tips almost touched. The two birds "necked" a little, and the female pecked 

 feebly at her mate's head and breast when he pressed her too hard out on the 

 branch. 



This performance was repeated four times, and each time I looked for 

 copulation to take i»lace, but the female was not agreeable. The male finally 

 folded his wings and perched quietly beside his mate. They remained thus 

 for about 15 minutes, each occasionally pecking gently at the other ; and once 

 I noticed that they grasped each other's bill, as doves are wont to do. I 

 could plainly see, too, that the birds parted their mandibles repeatedly, as if 

 making some sound, but none was audible at my distance. The birds suddenly 

 sprang into the air and flapped away, after I had watched them 25 minutes. 

 This was on January 31. 



Nesting. — The heading of this section is in a literal sense incorrect, 

 for no nest is made by the black vulture, and the eggs are laid without 

 this preparation. As bits of stick and weed stalks as well as dead 

 leaves strew the ground in many places, the eggs may be deposited on 

 these, but only incidentally, for these are not collected to form even 

 the semblance of a nest, and there is no hollowing out of the ground 

 as a receptacle for the eggs. "Wayne (1910) called attention to an 

 aesthetic habit of the bird that may have been peculiar to his region 

 in, South Carolina and that does not appear to have been noticed 

 by other observers. He says: "It is a peculiar habit of this bird, 

 which I have found to be almost constant, to have pearl, bone, and 

 china buttons, as well as pieces of glass and figured china, around 

 and under the eggs." 



As there is no nest to hold the eggs, these cannot be placed on 

 branches of trees but must necessarily rest on the firm foundation of 

 the ground or at the bottom of hollow stumps, sometimes as much 

 as 8 feet above the level of the ground. 



Hollow stumps, access to which is only from the top, are commonly 

 chosen for nesting by the black vulture. In some instances there may 

 be an opening at the ground by which the bird may enter and leav;e. 

 When the stump is 6 or 8 feet high and the nest is at ground level, 

 the entrance and exit of the bird from this chimneylike structure 

 must require the use of both the wings and feet, when the bird 

 scrambles up and out. I was told by an ornithologist that once 

 when a boy he climbed down for the eggs into one of these nesting 

 sites, and was unable to get out until a companion came to his rescue. 

 Edward J. Court (1924) reports a nesting "in a large white oak 

 stump in a cavity about two feet below the level of the ground." 



C. J. Pennock describes the nesting two years in succession of a 

 black vulture "in a large decayed hollow tree, the entrance five feet 

 above ground * * * the eggs being placed on a level with the 

 outside ground * * *. In every instance when the nest was visited, 



