282 &ietches of Some Common Birds. 



jacent regions. It is recorded as resident south of the 

 fortieth parallel. In the northern portions of our State 

 the turkey vulture is much less common than in the 

 southern parts, and is there regarded as a rare visitant. 

 In this latitude of 39° 20', individuals can be observed 

 frequently late in November, if there has been no severe 

 weather ; but after the first blast of real winter they are 

 seen no more until the genial weather indicates the ad- 



.^vent of spring. 



?" It is in its flight that the turkey vulture is seen to the 

 best advantage. It can soar for hours without observable 

 effort, except occasionally when it has swooped very low 

 in its quest for food, and desires to rise quickly. Then it 

 gives several steady flaps with its strong, sweeping 

 pinions, and, gently inclining its body upward, rises on 

 wide-spread wings, held somewhat above the horizontal 

 position, often careening in the strong breeze like a ship 

 in a gale, but quickly righting itself in the recovery of its 

 balance. When it desires to leave a neighborhood, it 

 ascends gradually in broad circles, which form a huge, 

 inverted, conical spiral, until it reaches a height almost to 

 the limit of human vision, and then it turns its course to 

 please its fancy, steadily floating from old to new regions 

 without apparent effort. 



Their wonderful power of flight admits the vultures to 

 forage far and wide from their nesting-places for suste- 

 nance for themselves and supplies for their families; and 

 for many minutes, and even hours, they may be seen 

 wheeling and circling over the particular patches of woods 

 that shelter their homes. They are fond of company; 

 and at times when only one individual is within the range 

 of our vision, others will appear in a few minutes; and 



I the bird-gazer will frequently wonder how so many of 

 them can circle into near view in so short a time, as they 

 seem to arrive almost simultaneously — " all at once, and 

 nothing first." Numbers of the gyrating black creatures, 

 all intently scanning the ground, and passing to and fro 

 in their varying circles, present a sight which impresses 

 the beholder with their perfect ease and power in aerial 

 regions. They disappear as mysteriously as they ap- 

 peared—one perhaps taking the lead in wheeling higher 



