CLASS II. AVES: ORDER 1. RAPTORES. 



61 



THE BLACK VULTURE. 



upward. The latter, though found in the vicinity of towns, rarely venture within them, and 

 then always appearing cautious of the near approach of any one. It is not so impatient of cold 

 as the former, and is likewise less lazy. The black vulture, on the ground, hops along very awk- 

 wardly ; the turkey-buzzard, though seemingly inactive, moves with an even gait. The latter, 

 unless pressed by hunger, will not eat of a carcass until it becomes putrid ; the former is not so 

 fastidious, but devours animal food without distinction. It is said they sometimes attack young 

 pigs, and eat off their ears and tails, and we have even heard stories of their assaulting feeble 

 calves, and picking out their eyes. 



In one of Wilson's journals we have the following : — 



^'■February 21, 1809. — Went out to Ilampstead this forenoon. A horse had dropped down in 

 the street, in convulsions ; and dying, it was dragged out to Hampstead, and skinned. The ground, 

 for a hundred yards around it, was black with carrion crows ; many sat on the tops of sheds, fences, 

 and houses within sight ; sixty or eighty on the opposite side of a small run. I counted, at one 

 time, two hundred and thirty-seven, but I believe there were more, besides several in the air over 

 ray head, and at a distance. I ventured cautiously within thirty yards of the carcass, where 

 three or four dogs, and twenty or thirty vultures, were busily tearing and devouring. Seeing 

 them take no notice, I ventured nearer, till I was within ten yards, and sat down on the bank.. 

 Still they paid little attention to me. The dogs, being sometimes accidentally flapped with the- 

 wings of the vultures, would growl and snap at them, which would occasion them to spring up 

 for a moment, but tliey immediately gathered in again. I remarked the vultures frequently at- 

 tack each other, fighting with their claws or heels, striking like a cock, with open wings, and 

 fixing their claws in each other's head. The females, and, I believe, the males likewise, made a 

 hissing sound, with open mouth, exactly resembling that produced by thrusting a red-hot poker 

 mto water ; and frequently a snufiling, like a dog clearing his nostrils, as I suppose they were 



