AMERICAN VULTURES. 275 



this close crowding, they never seem to fight much when feeding, although one will 

 at times peck and hiss at another ; and at times two will tug at a particularly tough 

 fragment, until it either break or the weaker bird gives up his hold." 



The nesting-habits are very similar to those of the black vulture, although, 

 instead of always laying its eggs on the bare ground, the present species will also 

 nest in caverns and crevices of rocks, or in hollow trees, while it has been known 

 to take possession of a deserted heron's nest in a cactus. Generally, the smell of a 

 nest is unbearable ; and when disturbed the parent birds have sometimes the habit 

 of disgorging the contents of their stomachs at an intruder, instead of moving. 

 The young, which are covered at first with soft white down, are fed in a similar 

 manner. The eggs are usually two, but may be three in number, and an instance 

 of four young in one nest is recorded. In colour the eggs are creamy ' white, 

 thickly blotched with red and chocolate. At times the nests, if such they can be 

 called, are in companies, but at others singly. The only sound uttered is a kind of 

 hissing wheeze, generally heard only when the birds are disturbed. 



caiifomian Far larger than either of the other members of the genus is the 



Vulture. Californian vulture {K. californianus), which, according to Mr. F. A. 

 Lucas, may even exceed the condor in expanse of wing. In this bird there is no 

 distinct ruff of downy feathers round the neck, while the general colour of the 

 plumage is brownish black; the tips of the greater wing-coverts are, however, 

 whitish, forming a line across the closed wing, and there is a broad band of white 

 along the under side of the wing, which renders the bird easily recognised when 

 flying overhead. This vulture always had a very restricted distribution, being 

 confined to the Pacific coast region of the United States from Oregon to Northern 

 Lower California ; and it now appears to be found only in California, where its 

 home is in the almost inaccessible secondary ranges running parallel to the Sierra 

 Nevada. Never very numerous, the Californian vulture has been decimated by 

 the poisoned meat laid out by the stockmen for the destruction of carnivorous 

 mammals; and in 1891 Mr. Lucas considered that the bird was likely to be 

 exterminated before many years. More recently, however, Capt. Bendire states 

 that in some of the most barren and inaccessible mountains these vultures have 

 again commenced to hold their own, so that there is a possibility of their increase. 

 Although from the weakness of their claws and beaks the powers of offence of 

 these vultures are comparatively small in proportion to their size, yet their strength 

 is very great, as is attested by the fact that four are known to have dragged the 

 carcase of a young bear weighing one hundred pounds for a distance of two 

 hundred yards. The flight of this bird, according to Capt. Bendire, " is graceful 

 beyond comparison, as it sails majestically overhead in gradually contracting or 

 expanding circles, now gently falling with the wind, and again rising easily against 

 it, without a perceptible motion of its pinions. While on the wing, it looks more 

 than the peer of any of our birds, the golden eagle not excepted." Little is known 

 of its breeding-habits, but it appears that the huge nest may be placed either on 

 rocks or in tre6s ; one that is described being situated on the limb of a large redwood 

 tree, at a height of seventy-five feet from the ground, and close to the stem. 

 The eggs are of a uniform greenish white colour. 



