ZOOLOGY. 129 



will shield it from a vulture, though not from the grizzly boar, 

 who little respects such flimsy protection. My coat, used on 

 one occasion to cover a deer, was found on our return torn by 

 bruin to shreds, and the game destroyed. The Californian 

 vulture joins to his rapacity an immense muscular power, as a 

 sample of which it will suffice to state that I have known four 

 of them, jointly, to drag off, over a space of two hundred 

 yards, the body of a young grizzly bear weighing upward of 

 one hundred pounds." 



The turkey-buzzard, or turkey-vulture [Gathartes aura), 

 specifically the same with the bird known by that name in 

 the Atlantic states, is found in all parts of California. From 

 the tip of the bill to the end of the tail it is about thirty inches 

 long, and six feet from tip to tip of the outstretched wings. 

 The head and neck are bare, covered with a bright-red wrin- 

 kled skin. The plumage commences below that, with a circu- 

 lar ruff of projecting feathers. The color of the plumage is 

 black, with a purplish lustre, many of the feathers havhig a 

 pale border. The bill is yellowish in color. 



§ 97. The baffle Mmiily. — The golden eagle [Aquila can- 

 adensis) inhabits California, and indeed all parts of North 

 America. Its length is thirty or forty inches ; its color on the 

 head and neck is yellowish brown, white at the base of the 

 of the tail, and brown, varying to purplish brown, and black 

 elsewhere. 



The bald eagle [Ilalicetus leucocephalos) was abundant in 

 California ten years ago, and is still often seen along the Sac- 

 ramento, San Joaquin, and Klamath Rivers. It frequents rap- 

 ids for the purpose of catching fish, which seem to furnish 

 the larger part of its food. It is from thirty to forty inches 

 long, white on the head and at the base of the tail, and brown- 

 ish black on the breast, wings, and back. 



The fish-hawk {Pandio7i carolinensis) is found along all our 

 large rivers. It is from twenty to twenty-five inches long. The 

 head and under pai-ts are white, with pale yellowish-brown spots 

 on the breast. The back, wings, and tail are dark brown. 

 6* 



