115 



are carrion feeders, relying upon dead meat and not capturing living prey 

 unless it is in the last stages of exhaustion. Ordinarily, they touch nothing 

 but decaying flesh. This is usually regarded as a matter of choice, but 

 may be a necessity, as their feet are not formed for grasping and the bill 

 is comparatively weak. They may, therefore, be unable to break into 

 large sound carcasses and are forced to await the decay which renders 

 the subject less refractory. 



FAMILY CATHARTID.E. TURKEY VULTURES. 



General Description. Large birds, uniformly nearly black in coloration. Bill is 

 comparatively long and less strongly hooked than in remainder of the Raptores (Figure 

 30, p. 23) . Head and upper neck are bare of feathers and have a superficial general 

 resemblance to those of the turkey, but are without wattles or warty excrescences. Feet 

 resemble those of a chicken rather than a hawk. Claws are blunt and the whole foot is 

 poorly adapted for seizing or holding prey. 



Distribution. Vultures are essentially birds of the warmer regions. They enter 

 eastern Canada only along the most southern boundaries. 



Vultures cannot be observed to advantage in Canada. In the southern 

 states they are more common and can be seen every hour of the day floating 

 on motionless wings high in the air, searching the country below with 

 telescopic eye for carrion. When an animal dies (or even before) it is 

 sighted and a black form drops from the sky beside it; shortly it is joined 

 by another, and another, and soon where not a bird was previously to 

 be seen many are struggling about the unclean feast. Though dissection 

 shows very highly developed nostrils, scent does not seem to guide them 

 to any appreciable extent. Experiment indicates that the eyesight alone 

 is relied upon for locating food. The flight of the Vultures is one of the 

 wonders of the physicist. The Vultures hang suspended in the air or 

 even rise until beyond the bounds of human vision, without visible effort. 

 On motionless outspread pinions they glide in great ascending spirals, 

 mounting higher and higher, and then, always circling, maintain their 

 positions for hours at a time, apparently without a single wing stroke. 

 Many explanations of the phenomenon have been offered but all so far 

 advanced fall just short of conviction. In Canada we have only one 

 species of regular though limited distribution. Another is of casual 

 occurrence only. 



Economic Status. The Vultures are not birds of prey in the usual 

 acceptation of the term, for they do not kill what they eat but feed entirely 

 on carrion. They have been accused, and perhaps justly, of accelerating 

 death at times, but they never attack an animal that is not in the last 

 stages of dissolution. In Canada the species is of little economic im- 

 portance, but in the south their scavenging is 1 an important safeguard 

 to the health of the more careless communities and in many typical places 

 they are rigorously protected by law for sanitary reasons. 



325. Turkey Vulture. TURKEY BUZZARD. Cathartes aura. L, 30. An all dark 

 bird, nearly black, with head and neck naked or in juveniles covered with greyish brown, 

 fur-like down. 



Distinctions. This species can only be confused with the next, but as the ranges 

 of the two in Canada do not overlap there is little likelihood of misidentification. The 

 base of the bill is bright red in the adult and the head and neck dull red. The under surface 

 of the wings is without silvery sheen. 



