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are carrion feeders, relying upon dead meat and not capturing living prey 
unless it is in the last stages of exhaustion. Ordinarily, they touch nothing 
but decaying flesh. This is usually regarded as a matter of choice, but 
may be a necessity, as their feet are not formed for grasping and the bill 
is comparatively weak. They may, therefore, be unable to break into 
large sound carcasses and are forced to await the decay which renders 
the subject less refractory. 
FAMILY—CATHARTID#H. TURKEY VULTURES. 
General Description. Large birds, uniformly nearly black in coloration. Bill is 
comparatively long and less strongly hooked than in remainder of the Raptores (Figure 
30, p. 23). Head and upper neck are bare of feathers and have a superficial general 
resemblance to those of the turkey, but are without wattles or warty excrescences. Feet 
resemble those of a chicken rather than a hawk. Claws are blunt and the whole foot is 
poorly adapted for seizing or holding prey. 
Distribution. Vultures are essentially birds of the warmer regions. They enter 
eastern Canada only along the most southern boundaries. 
Vultures cannot be observed to advantage in Canada. In the southern 
states they are more common and can be seen every hour of the day floating 
on motionless wings high in the air, searching the country below with 
telescopic eye for carrion. When an animal dies (or even before) it is 
sighted and a black form drops from the sky beside it; shortly it is joined 
by another, and another, and soon where not a bird was previously to 
be seen many are struggling about the unclean feast. Though dissection 
shows very highly developed nostrils, scent does not seem to guide them 
to any appreciable extent. Experiment indicates that the eyesight alone 
is relied upon for locating food. The flight of the Vultures is one of the 
wonders of the physicist. The Vultures hang suspended in the air or 
even rise until beyond the bounds of human vision,without visible effort. 
On motionless outspread pinions they glide in great ascending spirals, 
mounting higher and higher, and then, always circling, maintain their 
positions for hours at a time, apparently without a single wing stroke. 
Many explanations of the phenomenon have been offered but all so far 
advanced fall just short of conviction. In Canada we have only one 
species of regular though limited distribution. Another is of casual 
occurrence only. 
Economic Status. The Vultures are not birds of prey in the usual 
acceptation of the term, for they do not kill what they eat but feed entirely 
on carrion. They have been accused, and perhaps justly, of accelerating 
death at times, but they never attack an animal that is not in the last 
stages of dissolution. In Canada the species is of little economic im- 
portance, but in the south their scavenging is an important safeguard 
to the health of the more careless communities and in many typical places 
they are rigorously protected by law for sanitary reasons. 
325. Turkey Vulture. TURKEY BUZZARD. Cathartes aura. L, 30. An all dark 
bird, nearly black, with head and neck naked or in juveniles covered with greyish brown, 
fur-like down. 
Distinctions. This species can only be confused with the next, but as the ranges 
of the two in Canada do not overlap there is little likelihood of misidentification. The 
base of the bill is bright red in the adult and the head and neck dull red. The under surface 
of the wings is without silvery sheen. 
