BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 116 



GENUS GATHARTES ILLIGBR. 

 Cathartes aura (LiNN.). 



Turkey Vulture ; Turkey Buzzard. 



DESCRIPTION (Plate 67). 



Entire plumage brownish-black, and more or less glossy ; quills paler on under 

 surface ; skin of head and neck naked wrinkled, with scattering bristle-like feath- 

 ers ; head and neck red ; bill whitish ; legs and feet pinkish; iris grayish-brown ; 

 nostrils large and oval. 



Nestlings. Bare skin of head nearly white ; body covered with white down. 

 Length about 30 inches ; extent of wings about 72 inches ; wing about 25 ; tail 12 

 inches. 



Habitat. Temperate North America, from New Jersey, Ohio Valley, Saskatche- 

 wan region and Washington Territory, southward to Patigonia, casually northward 

 on the Atlantic coast to Maine. 



This species is found in some sections of Pennsylvania during all 

 seasons, but during- the summer months is much more plentiful than at 

 other times. The Turkey Buzzard usually rears its young in woods or 

 thickets, mostly near streams of water. It makes little or no effort to 

 construct a nest ; the eggs never more than two in number, and occa- 

 sionally only one are deposited generally in a slight concavity in the 

 ground protected by shelving or overhanging rocks. The eggs are yel- 

 lowish white, spotted with different shades of brown and purple, and 

 measure about 2f inches in length by nearly 2 inches in breadth. It is 

 stated that this species sometimes breeds in Pennsylvania as early as 

 the last week in March. I have found nine nests in Chester and Delaware 

 counties during the past seven years ; of this number seven were taken 

 late in April or early in May, and all contained fresh eggs. The two 

 remaining nests, found in June, contained downy young. I am in- 

 formed that these birds, in Lancaster and York counties, along the Sus- 

 quehanna river, are annually to be found breeding in small communities 

 of a dozen or twenty individuals. This bird will resort for several con- 

 secutive seasons to a favorite nesting place, and occasionally when its 

 eggs are taken will lay a second time in the same nest. The Turkey 

 Vulture is very numerous in the southern states, where it resides all 

 the year, but in the eastern United States, north of Pennsylvania, it is 

 said to be quite rare. Two young which I took from the nest and kept 

 in captivity until full grown became exceedingly tame. These birds 

 often when feeding, and invariably if approached by a stranger, would 

 utter a loud hiss, the only sound which this species, as well as other of 

 the American vultures, is known to make. They fed chiefly on fresh 

 meat, and also devoured with apparent relish earth-worms, crickets, 

 grasshoppers and other large insects ; oftentimes they also eat pieces 

 of bread, cake and particles of apples or pears which were thrown be- 

 fore them. The Turkey Buzzard, in its natural state, according to Au- 



