TURKEY VULTURE 21 



biles, or where fish have been thrown away by fishermen. Often, 

 when disturbed by an approaching automobile, the vulture will pick 

 up some such small object in its bill and fly away with it. 



Behavior. — On the ground the vulture is an awkward bird, hop- 

 ping clumsily, sometimes with a hitch sideways; it has a gawky 

 walk. To get into the air it leans forward, stumbles onward with 

 a few steps or hops, gives a push with its legs, and, with a visible 

 effort, flops its wings, until at last it is under way and sails off. 



In the air the vulture wins our admiration. Its great wings, 

 long and broad, hold the bird aloft like a kite. Adjusting its wings 

 to the wind, it progresses for miles with never a wing beat, or rises 

 very high in the air, nearly out of sight from the ground. In soar- 

 ing, the vulture raises its wings to a slight angle above the line of 

 the back, making a shallow V in the sky, and often the wind pushes 

 upward the separated tips of the primary feathers. As it moves 

 along it sways a little from side to side, not rolling like a ship at 

 sea, but teetering, balancing like a tight-rope walker, but slower. 

 When the bird sweeps past us just above the treetops, we see the 

 flight as a steady rush through the air; we see the head turn as the 

 bird studies the ground. 



Usually we see the turkey buzzards flying alone at no great height, 

 but sometimes they collect in the sky, dozens together, and wheel 

 about. The habit of gathering into flocks is much less marked than 

 that of the black vulture, and they do not go in packs during the 

 day as the latter birds do. 



M. P. Skinner, writing to Mr. Bent of the buzzards' habits, says 

 of their roosting : "At night they gather in a roost, usually located on 

 high trees in a low or swampy area in the depths of the forests. At 

 other times I have seen single buzzards in pines comparatively near 

 the ground as well as on the very tops." 



Ludlow Griscom tells me that the vulture is a late riser, seldom 

 being seen on the wing until an hour after sunrise. The ground 

 mists, which often obscure the southern lowlands early in the morn- 

 ing, probably delay the vulture's search for food until long after 

 the time when most birds are stirring. 



Mr. Tyrrell, in his notes, thus describes a flock of turkey vultures 

 going to roost : 



Today (February 22, 1932) at about 4.30, we were seated beneath a large 

 white oak, whose upper limbs were white with excreta, while on the sombre 

 floor of the forest beneath there was a whitish ring of the same material. As 

 we sat there, the great birds would sail noiselessly over, sometimes their small, 

 naked, red heads gleamed in the last rays of the sun, their dark, silver-lined 

 wings moving only to catch movements of the air currents, as they glided by. 

 Some, after alighting, would shake themselves until every feather was ruffled, 

 giving them a most unkempt appearance. Others would alight on a branch 



