502 PREYING BIRDS — RAPTORES. 



immense muscular po^vel'; as a sample of wliieli it will suffice to state that 

 I have known four of them, jointly, to drag off, over a space of two hundred 

 yards, the body of a young grizzly bear, weighing ujiwards of a hundred 

 pounds. 



" A nest of this l:>ird, with young, was discovered on the Tuolumne Eiver, 

 by some Indians who were sent there in search of a horse-thief. It 

 was about eight feet back from the entrance of a crevice in the rocks, 

 completely surrounded and masked by thick underbrush and trees, and 

 composed of a few loose sticks thrown negligently together. The effluvium 

 arising fi'om the vicinity was overpowering. We found tw'o other nests of a 

 like construction and similarly situated ; one at the head of the IMerced 

 Eiver, and the other in the mountains near Warner's Ranch. From the 

 latter the Indians annually rob the young, and, having duly prepared them 

 by long feeding, kill them at one of their great festivals." 



At Santa Cruz I saw three or four pairs (_)f cultures constantly, from 

 Februarv to October. At almost all times they could be seen sailing far 

 overhead ; but I did not, after much watching, trace them to their nests. 

 They are doubtless constant residents. ' ■ 



The figure of the adult vulture we give is taken from a cast of the cut in 

 the Proceedings of the Zoological Society quoted above. The liird was pre- 

 sented by Dr. Canfield, of Monterey, to the Zoological Society of London, 

 and the figure taken from life. The figure of the young bird in the down is 

 from the same specimen in infancy, taken from a photograph furnished by 

 Dr. Canfield, and a duplicate of the cut sent to the Zoological Society of 

 London, in exchange for that of the adult. 



Cathartes aura, Lixx.eus. 



THE TtrRKEY-BTJZZAED, OB VULTURE. 



V:ihuraurii, LiNN.T!r,s, Syst. Nat. I. 17GG, 122. — Wilson, Am. Oni. IX. 9.5; pi. Ixxv. f. 

 1 . — Cai/miies mmi, Illiger, Prod. Syst 1811, 236. — Ai-Diiios, Birds Amer. 106 ; pi. 

 ili. : oL-t. cd. I. pi. 2. — NuTTALL, Man. I. 44. — Baird and Cassis, P. R. Hop. IX. 

 ]jj,-,ls, 0, — Newberry, VI. iv. 7.3. — CoorER and Si-cklev, XII. iii. Zool. of W. T. 

 140. — IIeermann, X. vi. 59. — Dresser, Ibi.s, 1865, 322. (Texas.) — CouES, Pr. A. 

 N. Sc. 1866, 42. 



vSp. CiiAR. Browiiish-lilapk, darkest above, with a piirjilisli lustre, many feathers with 

 a pale border. Bill yellowish; head and neck bright reil. A ruff' of projeetiiif!; feathers 

 at base of neck. Tail rather long, rounded. Length of female, about .30.00; wing, 23.00 ; 

 tail, 12.00. Male smaller, length about 27.00. 



Ilah. All of the United States and Mexico, and throughout South America. 



This vulture is exceedingly numerous throughout tlie Pacific State.s, 

 wherever it can find food ; and though none may be seen for weeks, in places 



