88 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 



these buzzards wheeling about in the smoke, doubtless hopeing to 

 snap up some unfortunate hare, driven from its form by the 

 flames. Their flight is often extremely graceful, as they wheel 

 round in circles, on wings spread to the utmost, a pair crossing 

 and recrossing each other, one being a good dt;al higher than the 

 other. 



Haliaetus leucocephalus (Linn.) Bald JEagle. — Very rare in 

 the district, but more abundant on the lower part of the James 

 river. One was shot by a neighbour of mine, while feeding on a 

 dead sheep. 



Cathartes aura (Linn.) Turkey Buzzard — A very common 

 bird all the year, but comes more under our notice in winter, 

 when in the cold weather, beef, pork, and mutton, are being cut 

 up and prepared. Then they may be seen sitting in rows, on the 

 ridges of the roofs of the outhouses, or grouped on some tree close 

 by. They will sit on a fence, by the roadside and let you ride 

 past quite close. No one molests them ; indeed I believe they 

 are protected by law. 



Kegarding their nesting in Texas, Mr. Dresser says {Ibis, ^ 865, 

 p! 322) :_ 



"The nests I have seen were large, bulky, composed of sticks, 

 and generally placed, at some height, on a cypress or an oak, 

 near the river bank." But he also says — " I have never suc- 

 ceeded in taking any of its eggs, but was shown many nests," &c. 

 This is so opposed to anything I have seen myself, and to any 

 information I have obtained from others who knew the bird well, 

 that I cannot help thinking Mr. Dresser's informants must have 

 mistaken the nests of some other bird (probably the Osprey, or 

 perhaps a Buzzard), for those of this vulture. All the nests I 

 have found — or that I have heard of in my district — have been 

 in a hollow log, or the hollow stump of an old tree ; and the only 

 approach to nest-making that I have observed, is the slight 

 hollow in the decayed wood, where the eggs lie, and even this is 

 generally dispensed with. The eggs I have always found two in 

 number, in one of which the markings have been invariably 

 larger, bolder, and more blotchy than in the other. 



Ectopistes migratorius (Swains.) Passenger Pigeon. — The 

 wild pigeons pass in flocks going north about the middle of March, 

 and often remain a week or two in the district. Probably each 



