90 AVIFAUNA COLUMBIANA. 



Suborder CATHARTIDES : American Vultures. 



Family CATHARTID^ : American Vultures. 



164. (1.) Cathartes aura (Linn.) III. Turkey Buzzard. 



A permanent resident, and still common, though less abundant than 

 formerly, when the arrangements for the disposition of carrion were 

 more primitive than they now are. The " slashes" in the nortbern 

 part of the city, between Fourteenth and Twenty-first streets, were 

 twenty years ago the place of deposit of dead horses and other animals, 

 and in the same vicinity there were various dumping spots for the night- 

 soil, which used to be carted about the streets in the most primitive 

 manner. Such attractions, of course, held the carrion birds in large 

 numbers. They are still to be seen any day sailing over the city. 



The Turkey Buzzard will "play ? possuin" on occasion. One day in 

 1859, when we were out shooting, we winged a Turkey Buzzard, which 

 dropped at the shot, and as we approached was found standing under a 

 laurel bush, with one wing hanging. Having disgorged the contents of 

 his crop, which consisted of portions of some new-born pigs he had just 

 devoured, without frightening off the enemy, he then drooped his head 

 slowly and gradually fell over on one side, apparently dead. He was 

 picked up in this feinting condition, supposed to be dead, thrust with 

 difficulty into a game-bag, and carried home, a distance of two miles. He 

 was then pulled out of the bag and thrown down in the back yard — all 

 this while manifesting no sign of animation. But when we next saw him, 

 a few minutes later, he was walking about the yard — not exactly "a- 

 laughing," like Mother Hubbard's dog on the return of that dame, but 

 still quite lively. On our approach he simulated death as before, and 

 and trick was repeated again and again, until, finding that the decep- 

 tion no longer deceived, he screwed up his courage and tried different 

 tactics, menacing and hissing somewhat like a goose when we ap- 

 proached. He was finally dispatched, however, by our joint efforts, and 

 his musty hide and feathers deposited in our youth's museum. 



Similar strategy on the part of the Turkey Buzzard in Arizona is 

 noted in Dr. Coues' "Birds of the Northwest," p. 383. [537] 



Order COLUMB^: Columbine Birds, 

 Suborder PERISTER^E : Pigeons. 



Family COLTJMBID^ : Pigeons. 



165. (151.) Ectopistes migratorius (Linn.) Sw. Passenger Pigeon. 



Makes its appearance in flocks at irregular intervals throughout the 

 fall, winter, and spring months. We have shot specimens so young as 



