CATHARTID^ — THE AMERICAN VULTURES. 349 



within a few feet of it, almost brushing the leaves with their wings, their 

 sense of smell informing them that there was something eatable close by, 

 but their sight failing to solve the problem, owing to the enclosure of the 

 object in an envelope. 



The Turkey-Buzzard breeds on or near the ground, usually in hollow trees, 

 stumps, or decaying logs. It generally constructs no nest, depositing the 

 eggs with little or no preparatory pains for their shelter. Mr. Ord found 

 them breeding as early as the month of May in the deep recesses of the 

 solitary swamps of New Jersey. He describes the nest as formed, without 

 any painstaking, in a truncated hollow tree, and in excavated stumps or logs, 

 and mentions the number of eggs as from two to four. Except in regard to 

 the number of eggs, which is probably never more than two, these observa- 

 tions substantially correspond with other accounts of their breeding. In 

 Jamaica, Mr. Gosse mentions that the situations usually selected by the 

 Turkey-Buzzard of that island for laying and hatching its eggs are hollows 

 and ledges of rocks in secluded places or inaccessible crags and cliffs. A 

 little dry trash, he adds, or decaying leaves, are all the apology for a nest. 

 On the island of Galveston, where this Vulture was plentiful, Mr. Audubon 

 several times found its nest on a level part of the salt marshes, either under 

 the widespread branches of cactuses, or among tall grass growing beneath 

 low bushes. Mr. T. H. Jackson found this Vulture nesting in Maryland, 

 with fresh eggs, from April 10 to May 1. 



Dr. C. Kollock, of Cheraw, S. C, informs me that in his neighborhood 

 both this species and the Black Vulture frequent places in the interior 

 of swamps and thick woods, generally called Buzzards' roosts. They con- 

 gregate there through the year in large numbers, and usually breed in 

 the immediate vicinity. Mr. Audubon visited one of these roosts, near 

 Charleston, S. C, which extended over two acres of ground, and was entirely 

 destitute of vegetation. 



Mr. Dresser, who found this species one of the most common birds of 

 Southern Texas, gives a somewhat different account of their nesting. He 

 found them breeding all through the country on the banks of streams where 

 the timber afforded a secure shelter. He saw many nests on the banks of 

 the Medina, Altacosta, and San Antonio Eivers ; and these, he states, were 

 large and bulky, composed of sticks, and generally placed at some height on 

 a -cypress or an oak near the river-bank. 



Captain C. C. Abbott states (Ibis, 1861, p. 149) that in the Falkland 

 Islands they lay their eggs, two in number, but sometimes three, under a 

 high bank amongst bushes, or on the top of a dead balsam log, without con- 

 structing any nest. The time of their laying was the first week of Novem- 

 ber. Tlie young birds have the bare space of the head and neck of a bluish 

 color, as also the feet. The old birds go in pairs the whole year. 



The eggs exhibit slight deviations in size, and occasionally the nature 

 of their markings, yet for the most part preserve specific characteristics. 



