FOOD OF WEST VIBGINIA BIRDS 31 



CHAPTER IV. 

 HAWKS, OWLS AND VULTURES. 



Birds of Prey. 



The carnivorous, or flesh-eating, birds are called birds of prey. Their 

 food consists almost altogether of animal matter of some sort, the Hawks 

 and Owls feeding upon mammals, birds, reptiles and insects which they 

 catch in swift flight and kill with powerful beak and talons, and the 

 Vultures feeding upon decaying animal matter. In our State we have 

 a good representation of the Hawk and Owl families, but only one Vulture, 

 the Turkey Vulture. The economic value of these birds has been dis- 

 cussed briefly in a previous chapter, and it remains now only to look 

 a little more carefully to the food habits of these birds whose status is 

 so often called in question. 



The Vultures. 



Only three species of Vultures are found in North America, and only 

 one in West Virginia. This is the well known and very useful Turkey 

 Vulture, or "Turkey Buzzard." In all that great section of the State 

 that lies east of the mountains this species is very abundant, and, on a 

 summer day, one can scarcely glance upward without seeing one or 

 more of these graceful birds flying in lazy circling manner high over- 

 head. Sometimes scores may be seen at one glance . I have seen 

 almost a hundred at one time, as they gathered around the carcass of 

 some dead animal or assembled in great flocks after the nesting season. 

 One morning, about the 20th of August, 1914, Mr. King and I counted 

 ninety-one of these great birds in two trees in a field near Scherr, Grant 

 County. A little earlier in the same month I visited the nesting site 

 of a pair of these birds in the rugged mountain region along the Great 

 Cacapon River in Morgan County. In the central and western parts of 

 the State these birds are rather rare, much more so than formerly. Along 

 the Ohio River they are exceedingly rare. Their food consists mostly 

 of carrion and other refuse matter. Of course, so far as they act as 

 scavengers, their feeding habits are altogether beneficial. In some places 

 the work of Vultures is almost indispensable to the comfort and health of 

 the community. However, this charge has been raised against them 

 that they scatter, from one locality to another, the germs of hog cholera 

 and other infectious diseases from which domestic animals die. If this 

 be true, and there is good evidence that it is true, these birds may be 

 capable of doing great harm in spreading contagious diseases from one 

 neighborhood to another as they travel about on their strong wings 

 in search of food. Yet I do not believe that these birds ought to be con- 

 demned until more evidence is gathered along this line, and I am sure 

 they should be protected carefully because of their help in promoting 

 general cleanliness. 



