148 MOURNING DOVE 



Buzzard; Turkey Vulture: Cathartes aura. 



Length 2 l / 2 feet. 



Plumage, blackish edged with gray. 



Head and neck without feathers, the skin bright red; bill 

 white. Young with head and bill blackish. 

 Resident (abundant) all the year. 



Buzzards are valuable scavengers, and by their 

 prompt disposition of all carrion, keep the woods and 

 fields clean. Their scientific name, cathartes, means 

 " purifier." They are protected by law, a fine being 

 imposed for killing one. 



Numbers, of these great Vultures will sometimes be 

 seen perched on a fence in the vicinity of their latest 

 meal, grotesque and unattractive; but when they 

 mount into the air, and far above the earth circle 

 about for hours at a time with the utmost ease and 

 grace, they command our admiration. Their sight 

 and sense of smell are wonderfully acute, and they 

 patrol a large territory. 



Buzzards do not build nests, but the eggs are laid 

 on the ground, often under a pile of rails or brush, or 

 in a hollow stump. When the nest is disturbed, the 

 old bird makes a blowing sound like escaping steam. 

 Two large eggs are laid, much blotched and speckled. 



Mourning Dove; Turtle Dove: Zenaidura inacroura. 



Length 12 inches. 



General color dark fawn; sides of the neck iridescent; 

 a dark spot on the side of the head. 

 Tail bordered with black and tipped with white. 

 Under parts pinkish. 

 Resident all the year, common in summer. 



The mournful, monotonous coo-ah, coo-ah, coo of the 

 Turtle Dove is not the most cheerful of rural sounds, 



