28 BULLETIN 16 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



corded from Calhoun County, Mich., on December 22, 1929; in 

 Ontario one was taken at Moose Factory in June 1898, one was 

 seen at Ojibway, May 15, 1925, one was taken at Scarborough, No- 

 vember 17, 1908, and another was taken at Warsaw in tlie summer of 

 1895; one was killed at Dawson Bay, Manitoba, on September 15, 

 1913; a specimen was obtained at Camrose, Alberta, in January 

 1911; one was recorded from Comox, Vancouver Island, British 

 Columbia, February 24, 1920; and one was killed in Bermuda in 

 1853. 



Egg dates. — Colorado, Oregon, and British Columbia to Sas- 

 katchewan: 115 records, March 14 to June 25; 57 records, April 4 

 to 23. 



Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas : 24 records, April 16 to June 

 13 ; 12 records, April 26 to May 19. 



New York to Georgia: 118 records, April 3 to June 2; 59 records, 

 April 15 to May 5. 



Oklahoma and Texas to Florida : 59 records, February 25 to June 

 3 ; 29 records, March 31 to May 1. 



CORAGYPS ATRATUS ATRATUS (Bechstein) 



BLACK VULTURE 



HABITS 



CONTBIBUTED BY CHARLES WeNDELL ToWNSEND 



If one could forget the unsavory feeding habits of the black 

 vulture and remember only the pleasing attributes of its flight, one 

 would place this bird among the most distinguished and interesting 

 of avian friends. As a feature of the landscape in its flight and 

 soarings on high — and after all this is the feature most evident — 

 the black vulture appeals to our aesthetic feelings, while the mental 

 effort needed in distinguishing it from the turkey vulture and from 

 larger hawks and eagles adds greatly to its interest. It is a bird 

 well worth seeing and watching. 



Spring. — As the black vulture is a resident throughout its breed- 

 ing range except in the extreme northern parts, a marked spring 

 migration does not occur. It seems to be fond of the neighborhood 

 of the sea and generally outnumbers the turkey vulture in these 

 regions, while it is outnumbered by the latter farther inland. As a 

 straggler or wanderer it has been recorded as far north as Quebec 

 and New Brunswick, while its breeding range extends north only as 

 far as Maryland and Virginia. 



Courtship. — Aretas A. Saunders (1906) thus describes the court- 

 ship of this vulture, which "took place on the ground in the shade 

 of a small lime tree" : '*In a circle in front of the female were three 



