THE BLACK VULTURE. 167 



Dr. William L. Ralph writes me: "In Florida the Black Vi;lture resorts to 

 the cypress swamps to nest, and its egg-s are laid in sliglit depressions, on 

 small hillocks that rise above the water, and lined only with the dead leaves 

 and other vegetation that were there originally. Although I have never found 

 many of tlieir nests, I believe that they usually breed in these swamps, for 

 1 have often found them, sometimes in consideralile mnnbers, in such situa- 

 tions during the breeding season. As a rule their eggs are very hard to 

 tind, for the birds leave them before one can get within sight of their nests, 

 and will not return as long as anyone remains in the vicinity. The earliest 

 set that I have collected was taken March 2il, and I have found fresli effffs 



' or? 



from that time until the middle of April." 



Mr. W. W. Worthington found a small colony of the Black \'ultures 

 breeding near Beaufort, South Carolina, March 15, 1886. The nests, of which 

 he secured four, were all placed under a thick growth of yucca, in a small 

 hammock surrounded by marsh. Three nests contained two eggs each, the 

 fourth but a single one, and in this incubation had begun. 



Mr. A. W Butler, of Brookville, Indiana, infc^rms me that a pair of these 

 birds nested 4 miles west of Brookville, in May, 1889. The nesting site was 

 a hollow svcamore about 20 feet high; the two eggs were placed upon the 

 ground, inside. 



Both Mr. G. B. Seanett and Dr. James C. Men-ill, U. S. Arm}-, report 

 these birds as abundant on the Lower Rio Grande in Texas, nesting on the 

 gi'ound or under hollow logs in the woods. Capt. B. F. Goss also found 

 the Black Vulture abundant near Corpus Clmsti, Texas, nesting on the 

 ground, under thick bushes or under logs. Eggs were taken by him between 

 April 4 and May 13. 



From the foregoing accounts it will be seen that the Black Vulture is 

 more or less gregarious in its habits at all times, breeding frequently in 

 small communities, making little or no nest, and the eggs, usually two in 

 number, are, perhaps with exceeding-ly rare exceptions, alwavs placed on the 

 ground, in canebrakcs, under bushes, old logs, on rocks, and again in per- 

 fectly open and unsheltered situations. Occasionally but one egg will be 

 laid, and very rarely three. In the more Southern States nidification begins 

 about the 1st of Mai'ch, and later northward. 



Probably but one brood is raised in a season. The young when tirst 

 hatched are covered with lig-ht buff colored down, and they are fed in the 

 same manner as the young of the preceding species. 



Tlie eggs of the Black Vulture are readily distinguished from those of 

 the Turkey Vulture by their different ground color, somewhat larger size, 

 and fewer markings as a rule. By far the greater nundjer of eggs are elon- 

 gate ovate, a few are short ovate, others elliptical ovate. Their ground color 

 is a pale gray green; in none of the specimens before me can it be called 

 a creamy white; the tint is perceptibly diiferent. In an occasional specimen 

 it may be called pale bluish white, lik(i well watered milk, but the tirst 

 mentioned color predominates. 



