i857-3 Cox on Rare New Brunswick Birds. 20Q 



amount of caution : and no efforts or devices of its enemies could 

 induce it to enter trap, cage, or barn. A crisis at length arrived. 

 A sheep had died a few days before, and on January 29, Mr. 

 Vienneau descried the 'Turkey' on the carcass, feeding on the en- 

 trails. This was the last straw that broke the back of his tot- 

 tering faith. '"C'est l'oiseau du diable," exclaimed the excited 

 Frenchman, as he seized a gun and shot the impostor dead. 



Through the timely thoughtfulness of Mr. Anthony Adams, 

 merchant of Nequac, the bird was sent to John Nevins, Esq., 

 police magistrate of the town. Justice Nevins takes a lively in- 

 terest in ornithology, and has one of the finest private collections 

 in New Brunswick. It proved to be a veritable Turkey Buzzard 

 (Cat/iartes ««ra),andMr. Vienneau's 'Toiseau du diable" now 

 occupies a prominent place in that gentleman's cabinet. 



Towards the middle of last September, I was astonished at 

 learning that another Turkey Buzzard had been captured by Mr. 

 David Savoy, of Black Brook, one of the numerous lumber-milling 

 villages on the estuary of the Miramichi, and about twenty miles 

 in a direct line from Nequac. The bird was. when I saw it, 

 on exhibition in Chatham, a small town, situated about half-way 

 between Newcastle and Black Brook. Mr. Savoy described the 

 manner of its capture ; how he had hung up a salmon net to dry. 

 and the bird had in some way become entangled in it. It was 

 very wild he said, when first taken, but in three weeks a great 

 change had come over it ; for when I saw the bird, it was feed- 

 ing in a yard with ordinary poultry, which took no more no- 

 tice of its presence than they did of one of themselves. I noticed, 

 too, that the sight of one eye had been destroyed, and the ball 

 was withered and sunken. 



Its domestication seemed largely due to food alone ; for, as ob- 

 served above, the creature was wild when first captured, but 

 upon being fed grew remarkably docile, and made no further 

 attempt to escape. When describing its manner of eating, espe- 

 cially the first meal, Mr. Savoy ruefully shook his head. That 

 was enough. If the creature had to be fed on meat, it must be 

 got rid of; as long as he kept it, he had a veritable white elephant 

 on his hands. One day he observed it greedily devouring some 

 unsavory garbage. He was horrified, but smiled as a thought of 

 relief came to him ; the butcher's slaughter-house was at hand, 

 and immediately Buzzard stock took a boom. Even after stuff- 



