ANDERSON — THE BIRDS OF IOWA. 24I 



Boone — "I have met with it during mild winters in the heavy 

 timber along the Des Moines River bottoms" (Henning). Win- 

 neshiek — "a few remain throughout the winter in cattle yards" 

 (Smith). 



Order RAPTORES. Birds of Prey. 



Suborder SARCORHAMPHI. American Vultures. 

 Family CATHARTID.K. American Vultures. 



The Vultures are large, heavy birds, with great powers of soar- 

 ing flight. They feed' principally upon carrion and are exceed- 

 ingly useful as scavengers in southern localities. 



Genus CATiiARTes Illiger. 



134. (325). Cathartcs aura (Linn.). Turkey Vulture. 



The Turkey Vulture, or Turkey Buzzard, as it is more famili- 

 arly known, is a tolerabh' common summer resident in some parts 

 of the state, arriving early in April and leaving in November, and 

 a rare or infrequent visitor in other parts. Nests are occasionally 

 found. In the earlier days the species was apparently more com- 

 mon. J. A. Allen (Mem. Bost. Soc, i, 1S68, 500) says: "At Pan- 

 ora I once saw them congregated in hundreds, attracted by two 

 dead pigs. Frequently observed them resting on the fences and 

 wheat stacks, in ver}^ hot days opening their wings to catch the 

 breeze, the very picture of indolence. In southern Guthrie county 

 is a locality known as 'Buzzards' Roost,' it is said from the num- 

 ber of these birds that resort there." 



Major Bendire, in his "Life Histories," 1892, p. 163, says: 

 " Mr. Lynds Jones writes me from Grinnell, Iowa, T once started 

 a Turkey Buzzard from her nest and found, among the matter 

 thrown up, mice and pieces of a skunk, evidently very recently 

 killed. . . . The nesting site was a hollow stump, resorted to 

 year after year.' . . . Mr. J. W. Preston states: 'At Spirit Lake, 

 Iowa, I took a set of two eggs from an old elm tree, which leaned 

 in the form of an arch; the bird made its way into the tree at the 

 broken-off top and deposited the eggs near the roots of the tree.' " 



E. B. Webster writes me, March i, 1897: "Breeds, or one pair 

 of them did, on the upper Iowa River in the northern part of our 

 county (Howard) a few years ago; frequently see them." Mor- 

 ton E. Peck says it "formerly bred quite frequently in Blackhawk 



