VULTURES 215 



already dead, whether it be fresh killed or in the last stages of 

 putrefication and maggotism. 



They usually nest in small caves in the rocks in the west, or 

 in the east in hollow stumps or trees or on the ground. Two 

 eggs are laid or more rarely three or very seldom indeed four. 

 These are creamy white or white, spotted and blotched, chiefly 

 toward the larger end with chocolate brown, reddish brown 

 and lavender. 



Two eggs found in a cave which was about four feet long 

 by two across and far up the side of a canyon were taken near 

 San Diego, California, March 25, 1894. These eggs measure 

 2.70 X 1.80, 2.76 X 1.89. No nest was made. The young 

 are covered with a soft white down soon after hatching. They 

 are fed by the parents on semi-digested carrion. 



Genus CATH ARISTA Vieillot. 



326. Catharista urubu (Vieill.). Black Vulture; Carrion 

 Crow. 



Plumage of adults : head and neck naked and like base of bill blackish ; 

 otherwise glossy black with a silvery appearance to the under side of the 

 wings. Immature plumage : similar but seemingly not so glossy. 



Geog. Dist. — South Atlantic and Gulf States, north to North Carolina and 

 the lower Ohio Valley, west to the Plains, ranging southward throughout much 

 of South America ; straggler north to Maine, New York and South Dakota. 



County Records. — Kennebec ; one taken by me, September 25, 1897, at 

 Whitefield, (Powers, Maine Sportsman, Nov. 1897, p. 8). Piscataquis; one 

 taken alive near Dover, August 20, 1901, was seen by me at the shop of Mr. 

 Hoxie, the taxidermist, (Knight). Washington; not uncommon some 

 seasons, (Boardman) ; under date of November 3, (1892) Mr. Geo. A. Board- 

 man writes me as follows : "Our local taxidermist (Calais, Me.,) received a 

 Black Vulture which was killed here. This makes the sixth I have known 

 to be taken in this vicinity, while only one specimen of the Turkey Buzzard 

 has been secured in this locality " (Dutcher, Auk 10, p. 82) ; Eastport, 

 (Deane, B. N. 0. C. 5, p. 63) ; I have in my collection an adult male taken in 

 this town, (Lubec), August 25, 1904, (Clark, J. M. 0. S. 1905, p. 23). York; 

 Mrs. Dixon has a stuffed Black Vulture which was shot near here, having 

 probably followed up the Piscataquis River to a slaughter house near here 

 (Eliot) where he made himself at home, roosting on the barn at night ; he 

 ate quantities of the entrails thrown out by the butchers and after a few 

 days Mrs. Dixon had him shot, (W. L. Fernald) . 



