I(j6 LIFE HISTORIES OP NORTH AMERIO.VN BIRDS. 



Mr. Clement S. Brimley, of Raleigh, North Carolina, found a pair of these 

 birds breeding on April 21, 1890. The nest was a slight affair and contained 

 two slightly incubated egg>i. It was placed under the elevated end of a pros- 

 trated log near a s^vamp. Another, found on Slay 5, containing also two eggs, 

 was placed under the shelter of two huge bowlders on a sloping hillside near a 

 stream; incubation had begun. 



Mr. Walter Hoxie describes the breeding habits of this species as follows: 

 "Buzzard Island lies in a 1)end between Ladies Island and Wassa Island, 

 and is about 3 miles in a direct line from Beaufort, South Carolina. It is 

 about IJ acres in extent, and suiTounded by boggy marsh, beyond which, at 

 low tide, stretch wide flats of gray mud, liberally dotted with banks of coon 

 oysters. * * * 



"Perhaps a dozen or twenty paii'S breed here regularly, the most of them 

 being the black species (Catharista atratd), though a pair or two of the Turkey 

 Buzzards may be observed every year. Tlie portion of the island most fre- 

 quented by them is the west end. Here, under a dense growth of yucca, I 

 have taken nineteen eggs in one afternoon, and seen at the same time five or 

 six pairs of newly hatched young. There is never the slightest attempt at 

 forming a nest, or even excavating a hollow. The eggs are laid far in under 

 the intertwining stems of the yuccas, and, in the semishadows, are quite hard 

 to be seen. The parent bii'ds, however, have the habit of always following the 

 same path in leaving and approaching their precious charge, and after a little 

 experience I learned to distinguish these traces so well that I seldom failed to 

 follow them up and secure the coveted specimens. This track is seldom if ever 

 straight. It winds under and around the armed stems, and the difference in 

 bulk between a man and a Buzzard being considerable, the pointed leaves 

 find a good many of a fellow's weak points before he reaches his prize. * * * 



"Quite rarely I have found eggs on the other parts of the island, and once 

 or twice in completely exposed situations, with not even an attempt to get 

 under the protection of an overhanging bush. Possibly these belonged to 

 young birds which had .still much to learn in regard to the ways of house- 

 keeping. I have also occasionally found isolated ne.sts upon the outer Hunt- 

 ing Islands. In these latter cases the eggs have always been easy to find, for 

 being among clean sylvan surroundings the collector need only follow his 

 nose — if it is a good one success is certain. 



"Both sexes assist in the work of incubation. A week or ten days often 

 elapse between the deposition of the two eggs, but I have never observed over 

 a day's difference in the time of hatching. Indeed, I have never found a bird 

 sitting on a single egg. The period of incubation is very nearly thirty days, 

 but I have not yet decided this quite to my satisfaction. I have never taken 

 more than two eggs in a set, but my friend, Mr. Alfred Cuthbert, of this place, 

 took a set of three in 1884. I am not certain that two broods are not some- 

 times raised. I have myself taken eggs only from April 2 to May 26, but I 

 have heard of young observed as late as August."^ 



' Auk, Vol. Ill, 1886, pp. •iiH-'zVJ. 



