146 FALCONS, HAWKS, EAGLES, ETC. 



of the vultures are modified from the hawk types. The bill is less 

 sharply pointed and powerful, while the feet instead of having 

 curved talons have an elongated middle toe well adapted to walking 

 on the ground, or steadying the large body as the bird suinds on the 

 carrion it is devouring. 



When walking, the vultures often hold their wings out at their 

 sides, harpy fashion ; and sometimes as they rise they fly so low over 

 your head that you hear a loud puff, puff^ puff, puff, as they flap past. 



While usually solitary or in scattered companies they gather 

 quickly at a carcass, and at night often assemble in large flocks to 

 roost in a favorite grove of cottonwoods. Mr. Evermann reports over 

 a hundred roosting in a eucalyptus grove. 



GENUS CATHARISTA. 



326. Catharista urubu (VieUL). BLACK VULTURE. 



Head naked, but feathers of neck running up behind to a point on the 

 back of the head ; nostrils narrow ; wings not folding to the end of the 

 short, even, or emarginate tail. Adults : head bare, blackish, bill blackisb, 

 with yellowish or whitish tip ; whole body dull black ; wing quills with 

 white sbaf ts, and webbing on under side hoary whitish. Length : 23-27, 

 extent about 54, wing 16.50-17.50, tail 7.50-8.50, bill .90-.95. 



Distribution. Breeds in Lower Sonoran and Tropical zones from the 

 Atlantic to western Texas, and from North Carolina, Indiana, and Kansas 

 south over most of South America. Straggles to New England and South 

 Dakota. 



Eggs. Laid on the ground under bushes or logs, or on rocks ; 1 to 3, 

 pale grayish green, irregularly marked around the larger end with brown 

 and sometimes lavender. 



Food. Carrion. 



Although the turkey buzzard and black vultures resemble each 

 other in general, you can recognize the black vulture in the sky at 

 a glance by the shortness of its square tail. You also come to dis- 

 tinguish its flight, for while a turkey buzzard sails around smoothly 

 on a level, the black vulture's short wings and abbreviated tail often 

 give its body a peculiar tilt and a bat-like effect of climbing up the 

 air. In flying to the ground, its whitish under wing tips are a 

 striking character. 



FAMILY FALCONIDJE: FALCONS, HAWKS, EAGLES, 



ETC. 



KEY TO GENERA. 



1. Wing 17-21. 



2. Claws all the same length, rounded on under side. 



Fandion, p. 172 



