The Turkey Vulture and Its Young 



BY THOMAS H. JACKSON. West Chester, Pa. 



With photographs from nature by the author 



IGH in the air, soaring in graceful curves, often seemingly 

 among the clouds, the Turkey Vulture is an object of beauty 

 surpassing any of our native birds in its grace and majesty of 

 flight. In this part of Pennsylvania it is very abundant 

 during the summer months, and on any clear daj^ numbers of 

 them may be seen, hovering high in the air, making their 

 wonderful evolutions vv^ithout apparent effort or flapping of wing. Even 

 during the coldest days of winter they are frequently seen, though at such 

 times only as stragglers from the milder climate to the south ; for to obtain 

 food here in zero weather, with deep snow covering everything, would 

 seem for them an impossibility. 



Beautiful as Turkey Vultures appear when soaring in air, all cause 

 for admiration vanishes at once when we see them on the ground and at 

 close quarters. Still, there is much in their habits and peculiarities to 

 interest the bird student, especially so in connection with their nesting and 

 the rearing of young. Early in April, with the advent of settled weather, 

 they become quite numerous, and at once show an attachment for the old 

 nesting sites, to which they seem to return for many years, if not too fre- 

 quently disturbed. I have often noticed, when passing near the old nest- 

 ing places, that the birds watch the intruder very closely and hover near, 

 although no eggs or young are yet in the nest. These nests, or rather 

 nesting places (for they build no nest), in my experience have most fre- 

 quently been under overhanging rocks, or in caves formed by large rocks. 

 A hollow stump, or a large log from which the center has rotted, is fre- 

 quently used for a nesting place, and the present season I found a pair 

 that had taken possession of an abandoned pig-sty in the woods, which 

 furnished them an admirable place to set up housekeeping. Unfortunately, 

 the smooth board floor had allowed one of their two eggs to roll away, and 

 only one was hatched. Here they were safe from the attack of foxes, rac- 

 coons or other night prowlers that are responsible for so many empty 

 bird-homes. 



The period of incubation is very close to thirty days, possibly a day 

 more or less. Many Turkey Vultures' eggs are very handsomely marked 

 with spots and blotches of varying shades of brown, and the temptation 

 to take them for curiosities is hard for many boys to resist; this, together 

 with many other natural enemies, leaves, I am inclined to think, but a 

 small percentage of nests that yield mature birds. The nests, however, 

 seem to be more numerous in this vicinity than formerly, and it is not 

 unusual to find five or six now in a single season. 



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