BIRDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
287 
them, although the early method is still kept up until they are ready to 
hunt for themselves. This matter, together with that of an excrementitious 
character, which is found about the nest, renders the latter exceedingly 
offensive, and is hardly endurable to persons of weak nerves. But where 
numbers breed together the foulness of the resort is indescribable. 
The young are covered at first with a whitish down ; but as they 
increase in age, soon show traces of what they are to be, but of the pre- 
cise period when they attain the adult plumage, we are ignorant. When 
they quit the nest they appear with the bill and naked skin of the head 
and neck, of a livid blackish hue, and the back of the head and nape 
with more or less of whitish down. Their dress is more uniformly black- 
ish, the brownish borders above being less distinct, and the reflections 
rather green than violaceous. Mature birds have the bill white, the feet 
flesh-colored, and the head red. The general plumage is blackish-brown, 
and the quills ashy-gray on their lower surfaces. The skin of the head 
presents a wrinkled aspect, and is sparingly invested with bristle-like 
feathers, the plumage proper commencing in a circle on the neck The 
nostrils are quite large and open, the iris umber, and the tail rounded. 
In length they measure about two and a half feet, and have an extent of 
nearly six. The tail is one foot long, and the wings two. 
Notwithstanding their filthy habits, which render them obnoxious in 
the eyes of many persons, their harmless, peaceable natures should command 
for them respect from the lords of creation, even though they should not 
possess other claims to popular consideration. Like their nearest relations 
the plundering Buteos and Falcons — they offer no harm to their smaller 
brethren, nor detriment to the husbandman’s stock of poultry. They are 
essentially a useful bird, and in the Southern States where their services 
are most in demand, both they and the Black Vulture are protected by 
law, a fine being imposed ujjon any who should wilfully destroy their 
lives. But in more northern sections they are j^ersecuted with impunity. 
Hence their avoidance of the residence of man. As scavengers we recog- 
nize in them great benefactors, and when left in undisturbed possession of 
