CATirAHTID.'E— THK A-MKIUCAN Vl'LTURKS. 349 



witliin 11 low feet of it, almost bnisliiiii,' tlie loiivos with tlu'ir \viiif,'.s, tlicir 

 smise 111' smell iiit'ormiujf tliciii lluit tlieru wiis sumutliiiig fallible clusu by, 

 but their siylit tailing to solve tiie problem, owing to the enclosiue of the 

 object in an envelope. 



Tiie Tuikey-Miizzanl lireeils on or near the ground, usually in hollow trees, 

 stumps, or decaying logs. It generally constructs no nest, deiiositing the 

 eggs with little or no preparatory pain.s lor their shelter. ^Ir. Urd found 

 them breeding as early as the month uf May in the deep recesses of the 

 .solitary swamps of New .Jersey. He describes the nest as formed, without 

 any painstaking, in a truncated hollow tree, and in excavated stumps or logs, 

 and mentions the number of eggs as from two to four. Except in regard to 

 tiie nund)er of eggs, which is jirobably never more than two, these observa- 

 tions sulistantially correspond with other accounts of their lireeding. In 

 Jamaica, Mr. CJosse mentions that the situations usually selecled by the 

 Turkey- 1 hiz/ard of that i.sland for laying and hatching its eggs an; hollows 

 and ledges of rocks in secluded places or inacce.'^sible crags and cliffs. A 

 litth' dry trash, hi! adds, or decaying leaves, are all the apology for a nest. 

 On the i.sland of (lalveston, where this Vvdture was plentii'ul, Mr. Audubon 

 .several times found its nest on a level ])art of the .salt marshes, either under 

 the widespri'i' ' branches of cactuses, or among tall grass growing beneath 

 low bushes. Mr. T. H. Jackson found this Vulture nesting in Maryland, 

 with fresh eggs, from A\m\ 10 to May I. 



Dr. ('. Kollock, of Cheraw, S. C, informs me that in his neighliorhood 

 both this species and the lilack Vulture. freipKiit places in tlie interior 

 of swamps and thick woods, generally called Buzzards' roosts. They con- 

 gregate there through the year in large nuniber.s, and usually lireed in 

 the immediate vicinity. Mr. Audubon visited (me of these roosts, near 

 Charleston, S. (,"., which extended over two acres of 'ground, and uas entirely 

 destitute of vegetation. 



Mr. Dresser, wlio found this .species one of the nio.st common birds of 

 Southern Te.xas, gives a somewhat difl'erent account of tlicir nesting. He 

 found them breeding all through the country on the banks of .streams wliere 

 the timlier all'orded a secure shelter. He saw many nests on the banks of 

 tlie Medina, Altacosta, and San Antonio liivers ; and these, he states, wcr(> 

 large and bulky, composed of sticks, and generally placed at some height on 

 a cy])ress or an oak near the river-bank. 



Captain C. C. Al)bott .states f 11)18, 18(51, p. 140) that in the Falkland 

 Islands they lay their eggs, two in nnndier, but sometimes three, under a 

 high bank amongst bushes, or on tlie top of a dead balsam log, without con- 

 structing any nest. The time of their laying was the first week of Xovem- 

 ber. The young birds have the bare sjiace of the head and neck of a bluish 

 color, as also the feet. The old birds go in ])airs the whole year. 



The eggs exhibit slight deviations in size, and occasionally the nn.inri! 

 of their markings, yet for the most part preserve specific ciiaracteri.stics. 



