iSSS.] Roddy on Feeding Habits of Toting Rap/ores. 241^ 



comparison I think they eat more than those of an}- other class 

 of birds. Tlie actual quantity may not be so great but when 

 quality is considered in connection with quantity the amount is 

 greater. Their food is largely animal, the nutrient quality of 

 which is of the highest character. 



The great amount of nutriment is essential for their active life 

 and predatory habits, in which the highest muscular exertion is 

 necessary for securing their prey. The amount of food, there- 

 fore, is only an essential condition of their active life. 



Cathartes aura. — A young Turkey Buzzard gorges itself 

 with food to such an extent that it can hardly move. One will 

 eat at a single meal a whole water snake ( Tropidonotus sipe- 

 don) three feet long, as a young one once in m\^ possession fre- 

 quently did. Before it had a single feather it ate a house snake, 

 three and a half feet long, equal in weight to one-fifth that of the 

 bird. And in one and a half hours it was entirely digested, as I 

 determined by killing and dissecting it at the end of that time. 



The young birds are fed for a considerable time by the 

 parents by ejection of food from the crop or stomach, where 

 it had either been softened or partially digested. The young 

 insert the opened bill into the mouth of the parent, and drink 

 the food from it much as a fowl drinks water. The food is, 

 probably, always quite moist or juicy, thus furnishing drink to 

 the young bird at the same time. 



The young birds kept in captivity drank water freel}' from any 

 vessel as a fowl drinks, but were fonder of drinking from some 

 vessel, as a bottle, with a narrow opening partially inverted, that 

 the liquid might flow out. This must be because it is similar to 

 the opened bill of the parents. 



They are very fond of thrusting the bill into the opening 

 formed by the partially closed hand. I inferred from this fact 

 the manner of feeding before I had an opportunity of observing 

 it. 



They are fond of being caressed, or at least handled, especial- 

 ly so while feeding. In a few days after being placed in captiv- 

 ity they become fond of being handled, and soon follow persons 

 about like dogs. They express pleasure by a low hiss; dis- 

 pleasure by a more forcible hiss. 



They have a strong antipathy to dogs and express their dis- 

 pleasure the moment one appears in sight. Possibly they mistake 



