70 Bird -Nesting 



show to advantage : when on the ground they walk ui- hop, 

 sometimes moving with a succession of leaps, accelerated with 

 the wings. When about to take flight they stoop till their 

 breast almost touches the ground, and then unfolding their 

 wings, give a vigorous spring into the air : with a few power- 

 ful, hurried flaps they are fairly ofl". They soon begin their 

 gyrations with set wings, only beating at intervals when they 

 are forced to rise rapidly awa}- from some obstacle, and, cir- 

 cling thus, they are shortly in the upper air. Though the 

 turkey vulture has a slothful appearance and disgusting- 

 habits still it lays beautiful eggs, which somewhat redeems its 

 character in the eyes of the oologist. Next to the osprey, 

 they are the richest in colouring of the North American rap- 

 tores. A large series make a good display. They are usualh' 

 creamy or yellowish white, variously blotched and splashed 

 with rich brown, and also have numerous markings of pur- 

 plish-grey. They measure 2f inches in length by 2 inches in 

 breadth. The turkey vulture onl}^ lays two eggs, generally 

 on the ground, and the nest is a slight aflair. The first nest 

 we found was that of the pallid horned lark : the nest was 

 made of dry grass, lined with a few cow hairs, and was em- 

 bedded in the earth. The bird was flushed ofl" the nest ; it 

 only contained two eggs of a deep buft' colour, freckled with 

 pale brown. They measure .OOx.Go and .92x.66. 



We directed our steps to the place where we had shot the 

 burrowing owl the afternoon previous ; we followed the track 

 the wheels of the buckboard had made in the short grass, 

 and this led us to the place where we had piled up some 

 loose stones near the mouth of the burrow. There were 

 numerous holes, and John commenced to dig with the spade : 

 the ground was stony and it was no easy matter digging 

 down the burrow. The sun was very powerful, and the mos- 

 quitoes were a terror, every sting was like that of a bee, and 

 caused red, inflamed spots to blister all over our necks and 

 faces. We dug in turns, and found the burrow went perpen- 

 dicularly down about three feet and then ran along parallel 

 with the surface of the ground for another four feet. John 



