CLASS AVES: ORDER COLUMB^J. 



137 



in a semi-torpid state Fi ff- 



during the digestion 

 of its over-gorged 

 meal. 



To this family be- 

 long the California 

 Vulture (Pseudogry- 

 phus californianus), 

 the Black Vulture 

 (Catharista atriita\ 

 the Turkey Buzzard 

 (Rhynogryphus aura) 

 of the warmer regions 

 of America, and the . 

 Condor of the Andes. 

 The last is typical of 

 the family, and in 



Size excels all except Sarcorhamphus gryphus, Condor. 



the California Vulture. Its alar extent is about ten feet.* 

 It will frequently soar for half an hour without once flapping 

 its wings; but how it is accomplished has not been satisfac- 

 torily explained. To man, the Condor is inoffensive, nor 

 does it often attack living prey. 



ORDER COLUMB^E. 



General Characteristics. The Pigeons f have the bill 

 shorter than the head, with the nostrils imbedded in soft 

 skin ; and the hind toe on a level with the others. Both 

 male and female disgorge into the mouths of the young a 

 milky substance, and, after a few days, macerated grain. 



Columbidae. The Wild or Passenger Pigeon is common 

 to all parts of North America. It frequently collects in such 



* The exaggerated accounts g* the earlier writers are to be accounted for by the 

 fact that the Condor, when soaring at no great height from the ground, seems much 

 larger. 



t All the domestic varieties, now numbering nearly forty, are believed to have 

 sprung from the Rock Dove (Columba livid) of Europe and Asia. 



