246 HoxiE 0)1 the Breeding Habits of the Black Vulture. [April 



wide flats of gray mud liberally dotted with banks of 'coon 

 oysters.' There is no landing which deserves the dignity of be- 

 ing so called, but at high tide a boat can be brought near enough 

 to either the north or south side to enable a not over nice man 

 to make his way to terra firma. Once there the adventurous col- 

 lector is a moderately secure prisoner until the next high tide, 

 although I have known one or two instances of parties under the 

 stimulous of sandflies and hunger, making a successful attempt to 

 'bog' across to Red Blufl' on the Ladies' Island shore opposite. 

 On the Wassa side there is a deep channel at all times. 



From time immemorial this has been a 'bird island.' A strong 

 odor of guano pervades the air, and the soil is sometimes used as 

 a fertilizer on neighboring plantations. It is a frequent breeding 

 resort of the Snowy Herons, which, however, often desert it for 

 years at a time, as is the wont of this fickle bird. Not so the 

 Vultures. Perhaps a dozen or twenty pairs breed here regularly, 

 the most of them being the Black species {Catharista atrata)^ 

 though a pair or two of the Turkey Buzzards may be observed 

 nearly every year. The portion of the island most frequented by 

 them is the west end. Here, under a dense growth of yucca, I 

 have taken nineteen eggs in one afternoon, and seen at the same 

 time five or six pairs of newly hatched \oung There is never 

 the slightest attempt at forming a nest, or even excavating a hol- 

 low. The eggs are laid fiir in under the intertwining stems of 

 the yucca, and in the semi-shadows are quite hard to be seen. 

 The parent birds, however, have a hal)it of always following the 

 same ^^ath in leaving and approaching their precious charge, and 

 after a little experience I learned to distinguish these traces so 

 well that I seldom failed to follow them up and secure the coveted 

 specimens. This track is seldom if ever straight. It winds under 

 and around the armed stems, and, the diflerence in bulk between a 

 man and a Buzzard being considerable, the pointed leaves find a 

 good many of a fellow's weak points before he reaches his prize. 

 Sometimes, after a half-an-hour's crawling and peering into re- 

 cesses, being gored and stabbed on every side, the reward is only 

 a pair of uncouth, downy 'squabs,' whose welcome would give a 

 skunk big odds in the defensive art, for, as a friend of mine once 

 said, "'Little Buzzards are like a good rule, and work both ways." 

 "Better," quoth I, "for they work both ways at once." What 

 an object F. was, though, on that afternoon ! He liad come suddenly 



