A VES— TURKEY BUZZARD. 423 



justly remarks, implies neither respect nor consideration ; but is the natural 

 effect of its superiority in size and strength. 



Like the other vultures, these birds perform a most important office in the 

 economy of nature, by the removing of dead, and putrefying carrion. Their 

 sight is wide and piercing, their sense of smell highly developed, and their 

 strength of wing sufficient to enable them to reach an extremely high pitch, 

 and to continue their flight for hours together. They endure the pangs of 

 hunger with extraordinary patience ; and never attack the smallest bird or 

 the most feeble quadruped while it has life. In walking, their gait is slow 

 and heavy, and their body is maintained in a horizontal position. When 

 about to mount into the air, they are compelled to take several leaps before 

 they can accomplisn dieir purpose, and quit the ground with some little 

 difficulty. The odor of their flesh is precisely the same with that of the 

 carrion on which they feed, and even the skins retain it for many years. 

 Contrary to the habits of their family in general, they perch on the tallest 

 trees, living solitary or in pairs, building their nests, as it is said, in the 

 hollows of the trunks, and laying only two eggs. They are little inclined 

 to become familiar with man, but on the contrary avoid his habitations, and 

 betake themselves every where to the interior and unfrequented parts of the 

 country. In a deficiency of carrion they feed upon snakes and lizards, and 

 during the summer subsist, in a great measure, upon the putrid fish of the 

 lakes that are dried up by the parching heat of the sun. 



THE AMERICAN CARRION VULTURE, OR 

 TURKEY BUZZARD,! 



Is found in vast flocks in parts of America, where it is of great utility m 

 destroying snakes and vermin, and in devouring dead and putrid carcasses. 



1 Cathartes Aura, Lin. 



