729 



close to the body uwd also al tlic base of llir sUiill, Ihc 

 flesh ol' the neck was allowed to remain and the bill 

 of some bird of prey was held securely to one end of 

 the mass by fine wiie; the second head was manufac- 

 tured from bi'east ineat (apjiarently), and feathers of 

 body with the bill of an Owl. Tliese two bogus heads, 

 with those of a lot of Hawks and Owls and three or 

 four common Weasels, twenty in all, were seen in the 

 ollice of a justice of the peace, ready to burn when he 

 j;(»l a good hot fire started in his stove. 



TURKEY BUZZARDS AND SPARROWS. 



The Turkey Vulture (Fig. 1). was paid for as an 

 "Eagle-hawk,'* which was described by the scalp hun 

 ter who got the bounty for it as "being very bad on 

 poultry, especially young turkeys."' The English 

 Sparrow (Fig. 2), witli the heads of some other birds — 

 Hawks and Owls— and an immature male Pine Gros 

 beak and a common Kobin — came to Prof. S. F. l^aird 

 from county commissioners or other officials in the 

 western part of Pennsylvania, in 1885 or 188(5, as the 

 heads of birds of prey. The fact that these and other 

 remains of both birds and mammals were sent to 

 Pi'O-f. Baird and officers of the Pennsylvania State 

 lioard of Agriculture for identification shows plainly 

 that the officials wlio sent them were sincere in the 

 belief that they were lieads of some species of bird or 

 mammal mentioned in the scalp act of June 23, 188"). 



The heads of the Pheasant or Ruflfed Grouse (Fig. 

 1), and the Shaip-tailed Grouse (Fig. 2), came from 

 I*i'of. Baird's colled ion of I'ennsylvania heads. The 

 Sliarp-tailed Grouse is not found in this Common 

 wealiii in a wild state, but the birds are common in 

 manv of our markets. 



