The Birds of Warren County, O. 113 



remembered. Now an irregular Spring and Fall migrant; 

 more common in the Ivall. 



51. Zenaidura macroura, (Linn.)— Mourning dove; tur- 

 tle dove. A common resident, abundant in vSpring, vSummer 

 and Fall, and rare in Winter, when it is represented only by 

 small flocks in the corn-fields. The great bulk of them arrive 

 in March and go South in October and November. In the 

 Fall they gather in flocks, which sometimes numl)er as high 

 as a hundred individuals. Breeds. Three and, exceptionally, 

 four and five broods are rai.sed in a season, the birds not 

 unfrequently nesting on the ground, though the ne.st is usu- 

 ally found in thick, Inisliy trees, not far from the ground, or 

 in evergreens. 



Order Raptores.— Birds of Prey. 

 F.\MiLY Cathartid.*;. — North American Vultures. 



52. Cathartes aura (Linn.) — Turkey vulture. Resident 

 from March to December, during which time it is common. 

 In mild seasons, a few winter along the river hills. Breeds. 



53. C.VTHAKiSTA ATRATA (Bartr.)— Black vulture- A rather 

 uncommon, but regular, Summer resident, from March to 

 October, in the north-east part of the county, along the Little 

 Miami and Caesar's Creek hills, where it breeds, and is each 

 year becoming more common. On the farm of Commissioner 

 W. J. Collett is a large sycamore tree, in the hollow of which 

 a pair of turkey vultures had nested for a number of years. 

 A few years ago, Mr. Collett informs me, when the turkey 

 vultures had completed their nest, they were driven from it 

 by a pair of black vultures, which took possession, and have 

 used it as a nesting-place each year since. This is, I think, 

 the northernmost record of this vulture breeding, and the 

 first record of its breeding in the State. The first positive 

 record of its appearance in the county I have is my own 

 observation of a pair near Lebanon, in December, i8<S3. The 

 Caesar's Creek country residents vary greatly as to the time 

 of the first appearance of the " new kind of buzzard," but it 

 was about eight or ten years ago, .since which time they have 

 steadily increa.sed in numbers, and, although even now they 

 are by no means common, yet they are regular vSummer resi- 

 dents and breed here each vear. 



