ZOOLOGY. 129 



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

 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 our 

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

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



one hundred pounds." 



The turkey-buzzard, or turkey-vulture {Cathartes aura), 

 specifically the same with the bird known by that name m 

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

 the tip of the bill to the end of the tail it is about thh'ty mches 

 loner, and six feet from tip to tip of the outstretched wmgs. 

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

 kled ^kin The pluma^re 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 having a 

 pale border. The bill is yellowish in color. 



8 97 The Eagle Family.-The golden eagle {Aquila can- 

 adensis) inhabits Cahfornia, and indeed all parts of Xorth 

 America. Its len-th 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. i i <. • 



The bald eao-le {Halmtus lexicocephalos) was abundant m 

 Cahfornia 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 iurnish 

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

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

 ish black on the breast, wings, and back. 



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

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

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

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

 6* 



