THE O. & O. SEMI-ANNUAL. 25 
NESTING OF THE TURKEY BUZZARD. 
Cathartes Aura. 
BY JNO. A. DONALD, DECATUR, TEXAS. 
This bird is quite a common resident in this locality. A few 
notes concerning the nesting of the species will, no doubt, prove 
of interest to the readers of the Sem1-ANNUAL. I have only been 
a student of the science for the 
past three seasons, during which 
time I have found and examined 
personally eleven nests of the 
Turkey Buzzard, and shall con- 
fine myself to observations of the 
same taken from my note-book. 
The first nest, found during the 
above period, was on April 5th, 
1888, contained one egg and was 
on the ground, in a thicket, under 
a log. 
I did not disturb it, but waited 
until the roth in order to get a full 
THE TURKEY BUZZARD. set. On visiting it on that date 
it still contained one egg, which I 
took ; incubation about 1-2. This egg measures 2.74x1.94. It is 
of a dull, creamy, buff color, very evenly spotted with dark 
brown—the spots around the larger end being thicker and heav- 
ier than those of the smaller. 
The next nest found was on May 6th, 1888; contained three 
eggs and the broken shell of another. These eggs passed out 
of my hands soon after finding them, and for this reason I can- 
not give a description of them. On comparing them I decided 
that they were the product of two pairs of birds, as the markings 
of the broken shell and one egg were very different from those of 
the other two. The eggs were placed on a bed of leaves, in a 
thicket. Set 3-2 was collected June 5th, 1888, but the eggs were 
too badly incubated to save. Nest was on the ground in a thicket. 
