of some unfortunate deer in the forest or 

 homeless dog by the wayside, or strug- 

 gling together in the gutters of the city 

 or town for the refuse matter left there 

 for them. 



The construction of the birds are in 

 every way suited to the work they have 

 to do. Having acquired the fondness for 

 carrion they have lost most of the grasp- 

 ing powers in the foot possessed by the 

 other families of Raptores, as well as the 

 dash and courage which is characteristic 

 of all these forms which catch their prey 

 alive and kill it. They have, however, 

 acquired a very heavy, strong foot, tarsus 

 and bill, the end of the latter being ex- 

 ceptionally strong and sharp pointed, while 

 both bill and feet are especially adapted 

 for tearing apart the tough skins and 

 other portions of the deceased creatures 

 they frequently feed upon. They are very 

 sociable, but exceedingly voracious, fre- 

 quently gorging themselves until they 

 are unable to arise from their feasting 

 grounds, at which times, if one is not over- 

 come with the very unpleasant odor 

 which is characteristic of the birds, they 

 may be captured with little or no trouble, 

 as they seldom show fight, and only ex- 

 press approval or disapproval of anything 

 by feints or passes and low guttural grunts 

 or hisses. They are possessed of excep- 

 tional wing area and power of flight, being 

 cne of the most remarkable soaring fami- 

 lies in the world. They rise from the 

 ground with a few lazy beats of wing and 

 scar off with or against the wind, turning, 

 rising or falling at will without any per- 

 ceptible muscular exertion and are able to 

 continue this performance for hours with- 

 out a beat of the wing. 



The head and neck are usually bare of 

 feathers and sparsely covered with short 

 fine hairs, the skin hanging in wrinkles 

 on the neck, like that of the turkey. 



The only Manitoban, and, in fact, the 

 only Canadian species of this family is 

 rhe Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura), fre- 

 quently designated the wild turkey by 

 n'any intelligent persons, on account of 

 the resemblance of the head and foot of 

 the bird to that of the turkey. The Tur- 

 key Vulture is strictly migratory with us, 

 and ranges over the whole province. They 

 are to be found usually in the vicinity of 

 slaughter houses or other places where 

 refuse animal matter is deposited, and are 

 usually difficult of approach, particularly 

 on their first apearance in the soring. 

 They arrive here about the middle of 

 May, and breed, no doubt, in the less fre- 

 quented districts. The nest is placed in a 

 prostrate hollow log or stump, or on the 

 ground under bushes. The eggs are 

 either one or two in number and are a 



creamy white, blotched or spotted irregu- 

 larly with dark brown. I have in two sea- 

 sons received two and observed five other 

 specimens in the vicinity of Portage la 

 Prairie. They leave us some time during 

 September. 



A peculiar habit of playing 'possum by 

 feigning death when wounded and cap- 

 tured is credited to this species by Dr. 

 Cones, who says, " the first is admirably 

 executed and frequently long protracted." 



II. FALCONIDAE. 



Of this family more may be said of lo- 

 cal interest, as we have some 17 species 

 locally represented, which according to 

 their various peculiar characters and their 



Red tailed Hawk. 



{Buteoborealis ) 



economic relations to agriculture, I pro- 

 pcse to divide into three groups, which 

 shall be known as Wholly Beneficial, 

 Mostly Beneficial and Harmful species. 

 I will endeavor to point out the means 

 of distinguishing one group from another, 

 in order that the innocent may cease to 

 be Dunished for the guilty. 



In the Wholly Beneficial class I place 

 two species of the genus Archibueo, viz. : 

 A. lagopus Sancti Johannis. and A. fer- 

 rugineus. The former, is a common spe- 

 cies with us, the latter only an occasional 

 visitor from the south and west, and the 

 strongest proof of their beneficial quali- 

 ties is the fact that in all the stomachs 

 examined no trace could be found of poul- 

 try, game or small birds, while 92 per cent. 



