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AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



VULTURE EGG. 



HABITS. 



If measured by its extent of wing, this vulture is the largest bird in the 

 United States. One that was secured in the Loma Pelon Mts. measured 

 eleven feet and four in. in extent. This greatest of all feathered scaveng- 

 ers is strictly a mountain bird. If he descends to the valley, it is only to 

 gorge on a dead carcass. After finishing his meal, with a few flaps of his 

 enormous wings, he mounts into the air, and then without any further 

 perceptible effort, and taking advantage of every favorable current of air, 

 rises skywards until a sufficient altitude is reached, when he starts home- 

 wards. For a habitat he selects the roughest and most rugged mountains, 

 and only those covered with coniferous forests and high cliffs. On these 

 cliffs he sits sunning himself for hours. At night he will select the dead 

 branches of some large pine for his perch and unless disturbed does not 

 leave it before eight o'clock in the morning. 



A large hole in a cliff, usually facing towards the south, is chosen for a 

 nesting place. The bottom of this cave is covered with sand or broken 

 bits of rock. A hollow is scratched out in this for the nest, sticks or any 

 other material generally being omitted in the construction. 



I am glad to be able to send you some photographs of the nest and eggs 

 of the Condor. The photo of the egg is just as it was in the hole of the 



