BIRDS OF PREY 137 
portions of the United States its offices are necessary 
and are valued greatly by the farmers and ranchmen. 
Long before the owner has missed the sheep or known 
that it is dead, the quick eye of the Vulture has discoy- 
ered the carrion and he has called his fainily to the 
feast. Unlike most birds of prey, the Vulture feeds 
upon the ground where the carcass is found, and for this 
reason his foot has become modified for walking rather 
than for grasping. He is usually silent, except for 
hisses and guttural growls, uttered when feeding, which 
remind one of a hyena. Recent successful attempts 
have been made to prove that he discovers his food by 
the sense of smell as well as by keen sight. Carrion 
has been hidden under a dense growth of brush where it 
could not be seen, and the Vultures have found it quite 
as readily as when exposed to view. 
The nesting season of this Vulture in California begins 
about April 15, the eggs being laid in a depression in 
the ground under a ledge, or on a steep hillside, or in 
the cavity of a tall stump, or ina tree. The young are 
fed by regurgitation, and remain in the nest nine weeks. 
Except at nesting season, this Vulture is gregarious, fly- 
ing and feeding in company and roosting in great num- 
bers in favorite groves. On the wing it is graceful and 
impressive, moving in great circles apparently without 
effort and without fatigue. One can scarcely look up to 
the hills without seeing it, and it comes to be as much 
a part of California scenery as the mountains or the sea. 
