342 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



])i'. Tdwnsend states tliat in thoir walk tlicy rcsi'iabh^ a Turkey strutting 

 uvor lli(! ,i,'niuu(l witli j^nsit iliguity, luit aro cluuisy and awkwarii when 

 tlicy t'ucloavur to liastou tlioir nioveiueiit.s. When tlicy attenij)t to rise from 

 the pound they always lio]) several yards, in imler to jiive an ini])etus to 

 their lieavv Ixuly. Dr. Cooper diseredits the statement of Mr. Taylor, that 

 this \'ulture has been known to kill and carry olV a hare in its claws. These 

 are strai^uhtand weak, and not adapted for such uses. 



Ur. lleerniann states tliat a nest of this liird with vounL; was discovered 

 in a tliicket on the Tuolunuie K'iver. It was about eii^lit feet back from the 

 entrance of a crevice in tlie rocks, completely surrounded and masked by 

 tliick underbrusji and trees, and composed of a few loose stick- thrown ne<,'- 

 ligently tonetlier. He found two other nests, of a like eonsiruction and 

 similarly situated, at the head of Merced JJiver and in the mountains. From 

 the latter tlie Indians were in the habit of yearly robbing the young, to kill 

 at one of tlieir festivals. 



^Ir. Alexander S. Taylor, of Monterey, published a series of jtapcrs in a 

 California journal relative to this Vulture. In one of tlie.se he mentions that 

 a Mexican nnichiro, in liunting among the highest peaks of the Santa Lucia 

 range, disturbed two jjairs of them from their nesting-places, and brought 

 away from one a young bird a few days old, and from tlie other an egg. There 

 was no nest, the eggs having been laid in the hollow of a tall old robles-oak, 

 in a stce]i hiimnira, near the summit of one of tlie highest petiks. Tln'se 

 birds are said by some hunti'rs to make no nest, but sim})ly lay their eggs 

 on tiu^ ground at the foot of old trees or on the bare rocks of solitary peaks. 

 Others allirm that they .sometimes lay their eggs in (dd nests of Kagles and 

 lUizzards. Mr. Taylor states that the egg weighed 1(1.50 ounces, the con- 

 tents weighing 8.7"). The egg was of a dead dull white eohir, the surface of 

 the shell slightly roughened. It was nearly a i)erfect ellipse in shape, and 

 measured 4.riO inches in length by 2.I><S in diameter. The egg-shell held 

 nine lluid ounces of water. The young A'ulture weighed ten ounces. His 

 skin was of an ocreous-yellow, covered witli a tine down of a dull white. 



Dr. Canlield iid'ormed Di'. Cooper that he lias secsn as many as one hun- 

 dred and titty of tlicse liirds at one time and ]ilace in the vicinity of ante- 

 lojK's he hact killed, and noticed that they invariably sighted their prey. They 

 are often killed liy feeding on animals tliiit have been poisoned vith slrycli- 

 nine. 'i'licy are not feared l)y the ruinlin-ds, yet Dr. Cantield has known a 

 numl>er to attack a young calf, .sepaiate it from its motlier, and kill it. A 

 raqncro having killed a large grizzly bear, left it on the jilains near the sea- 

 shore, to return to the house, about three miles distant, for a.ssi.stance. On 

 his return, after an alisence of aliout two hours, a Hock of these Vultures 

 had cleaned tlie entire carcass, leaving oid>- the skin and the skeleton. This 

 ^'ulture :iii(1 the T'.irl:cy-r.;i/./.ani otten feed together over the same carcass, 

 and generally do some tigliting together. Many of them nest in the high 

 mountains east and s(juth of the (,'arnielo Valley, and also near Santa Cruz, 



