38 PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA No. 9 



said to breed, but circumstances have never permitted me to visit any of them. 

 A few miles west of Friant there is a high chain of very rocky ledges extending 

 for several miles almost parallel to the San Joaquin River. I have been told of a 

 young vulture being found at the foot of one of these hills some years ago, and 

 as it was unable to fly more than a short distance it was no doubt hatched some- 

 where in the rocks above. Mr. Chas. E. Jenney tells of exploring caves that were 

 strewn with bones of small mammals, and containing other evidence of having 

 been occupied by vultures. Although these hills are on the west side of the river, 

 and therefore in Madera County, they are included in this list as thev are visible 

 for some miles in Fresno County and within a short distance of one of my fa- 

 vorite collecting grounds. 



Above Academy the hills, for a mile or two along the wagon road, are very 

 steep and rocky, with numerous rather small oaks. An ornithologist from the 

 southern part of the state upon seeing those hills exclaimed, "My! what a place 

 for turkey buzzards." In The Oologist for April, 1908, is a view taken by Mr. 

 G. A. Abbott in the Aransas Pass region of Texas, which is not at all unlike some 

 of the country above Academy, and I believe it would be possible to secure one 

 or two views that would bear a marked similarity to Mr. Abbott's splendid il- 

 lustration. On the 1 8th of May, 1908, I camped in one of these canyons, and 

 was much interested just after sunset in watching the vultures that appeared 

 from somewhere above and began circling about the higher hills, until finally, as 

 darkness came on, nearly three dozen of the big fellows settled down into the can- 

 yon to roost in some tall sycamores. 



Rumors have come to me at times of eggs having been found among the 

 rough, sun-scorched gullies along the eastern base of the Coast Range moun- 

 tains, near the outlet of Panoche Creek, thirty miles or more west of Fresno. All 

 three of the places mentioned seem ideal for the requirements of buzzards, and 

 T shall never be satisfied until each has been visited during the nesting period of 

 the Turkey Vulture. 



I have always been much interested each spring in the return of these birds, 

 for most of them, apparently, spend the winter somewhere to the southward. 

 These flights usually occur in February and last for a day at a time, and during 

 ten years of observation the line of flight has not varied a quarter of a mile, the 

 birds coming from a point southeast of Clovis and passing on toward the north- 

 west in the direction of the river. A very interesting feature of these fights is 

 that they occur, almost without exception, during a strong wind and generally 

 at a time when a storm is just breaking up and clouds are hurrying before the 

 gale. The surprising fact is that the flight is directly against the wind, and on 

 one occasion when the wind varied slightly the line of flight was changed cor- 

 respondingly. The only exception to this rule that I have ever noticed occurre.l 

 on March 5, 1906, when the wind blew strong from the southeast and the buz- 

 zards were traveling along with it. On one occasion the wind had been blowing 

 briskly all day but died down suddenly about four o'clock and the flight ceased 

 almost at once. 



These returning birds do not come in great flocks but trail across the sky in 

 single file, sometimes only a few feet apart and again as far apart as one hundred 

 yards or more. Every mile or so they pause and begin to circle around, occasion- 



