TURKEY VULTURE 



By T. GILBERT PEARSON 



'Cije Rational Msfsioctation of ;a[ulrul)on Societies; 



EDUCATIONAL LEAFLET NO. 100 



While traveling through almost any section of the southern and western 

 states, one has but to look up to discover, off against the sunlit sky, the dark 

 form of a Turkey Vulture keeping its vigil over the earth beneath. No land- 

 bird of this country is comparable to it in matters of grace and majesty of 

 movement while in the air. As it soars, with scarcely a wing-beat, now low over 

 the gardens or woods, and again far aloft in the eternal blue, the watcher may 

 well exclaim, "Behold flight in its utmost perfection!" 



Turkey Buzzards, as these birds are almost universally called, are not so 

 abundant as some observers have been led to believe. They are such large and 

 striking creatures, and keep so much in view, that the error of thinking they 

 exist by thousands in any given community is perhaps a natural one. And yet, 

 for so large a bird, we may consider them relatively numerous. 



They are most useful birds as scavengers. They quickly find and consume 

 with equal avidity the dead snake by the roadside, the trapped rat thrown out 



TURKEY VULTURE. FOUR WEEKS OLD 

 Photographed by Thomas H. Jackson 



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