7GG KEPOKT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



begin cooing about the middle of March, in Franklin County; 1887, 

 March 7; 1896, March -10. The nest is a frail platform, composed of 

 sticks and roots, sometimes with a few leaves. 



They mate early, and their nests, with complement of eggs, are 

 often found early in April April 5, Carroll County (Evermann); 

 April 4, Franklin County; April 17, Lafayette (L. A. and C. D. Test). 

 Their usual nesting place is in a tree or bush, from four to fifteen feet 

 from the ground. In the bushes along the river banks their nests 

 are especially numerous. They select as a nesting site Honey Locusts 

 (Gleditschia) or Thorn (Cratcegus) perhaps more often than all other 

 trees. They often nest in orchards, and upon stumps from two to ten 

 feet high. They are sometimes found breeding in company with the 

 Purple Grackle. Mr. L. T. Meyer writes of a tendency of these birds 

 towards breeding close together, possibly in colonies. In a very small 

 patch of pine trees, in Lake County, he found ten nests. Occasionally 

 nests are found built upon the ground, as they are throughout the 

 treeless region of the West, but such is not often the case with us. 



Both sexes share in incubation, the period being about two weeks. 



They are generally through breeding by July, though the nest, with 

 eggs, occasionally may be found all through the summer and into the 

 early fall. When family cares are over they begin to collect in small 

 flocks. Then they often are seen in the corn fields, which they con- 

 tinue to frequent into the winter. Their food consists of different 

 kinds of grain, weed seeds, beechnuts, small acorns, worms and in- 

 sects. 



J. ORDER RAPTORES. BIRDS OF PREY. 



SUBORDER SARCORHAMPHI. AMERICAN VULTURES. 



XXV. FAMILY CATHARTID^E. AMERICAN VULTURES. 



a 1 . Tail square; wings short, primaries of folded wings not reaching to end of 

 tail; nostrils small and narrow. CATHARISTA. 69 



a 2 . Tail rounded; wings long, primaries of folded wing reaching to or beyond end 

 of tail; nostrils large and broad. CATHARTES. 68 



68. GENUS CATHARTES ILLMJKR. 



*126. (325). Cathartes aura (LINN.). 



Turkey Vulture. 

 Synonym, TURKEY BUZZARD. 



Adult. Head and upper part of neck, naked, the skin bright red, 

 sparsely set with a few bristle-like feathers; bill, white; plumage, lus- 

 trous black, more or less edged with brown; tail, rounded; ends of 



