266 



NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



purpose. The eggs, generally Iml two, are dull white, dotted with liglit brown at the 

 obtuse ends. 



The American vultures, eoiistitiiling the family C.VTiiAUTin.K, are ])eeuliar in having 

 the hind toe inserteil above the level of the rest, and the nostrils jierforated, that is, 

 opening into eaeli other through the bill, owing to the absence of the bony partition 

 which separates them in all other members of the order. There are many other points 

 of interest in their structure, such as the e.\treme shortness of the hind toe, and the 

 slight flexibility of the others; the comparatively short, blunt, and slightly curved 

 claws; the decidedly long tarsus; the somewhat lengthened ami obtusely pointed, 

 slightly hooked bill ; the nakedness of the head, etc. The cranial structure is also 

 peculiar, and it was Iliixli-y's demonstratinn of these osteological pccidiarities which 



v 



...0\ 



Fig. V^, — f Vt/A/ir/ej rt/ro/«j. carrion-crow, black vuUure. 



has led to tlie sejiaration of the American birds from the Old World vultures, with 

 which, until recently, they have always been .associated. 



As their name implies, these birds arc cleansers or scavengers, living mainly on 

 carriuii and other refuse, but frei|U(ntly attacking small, weak, or sickly animals when 

 other sii|i|ilics fail. 



The smallest bird of the group, at least in extent of wing, is the carrion-crow or 

 black vulture, Catfiartes atratiis, so .abundant in the Gulf states, extending as far north 

 as North Carolina, and ranging over almost the whole of Central and South .\merica. 



It is exceedingly useful as a scavenger, and in many states is very justly jtrotected 

 by law, and has become as abun<lant and unsuspicious about the city streets as the 

 pigeons themselves. Wilson, describing the scene about the freshly skinned carcass 

 of a horse, says: "The ground for a hundred yards around it was black with carrion- 



