BIRDS OF PREY 137 



portions of the United States its offices are necessary 

 and are valued greatly by the farmers and ranchmen. 

 Long before the owner has missed the sheep or known 

 that it is dead, the quick eye of the Vulture has discov- 

 ered the carrion and he has called his family to the 

 feast. Unlike most birds of prey, the Vulture feeds 

 upon the ground where the carcass is found, and for this 

 reason liis foot has become modified for walking rather 

 than for grasping. He is usually silent, except for 

 hisses and guttural growls, uttered when feeding, which 

 remind one of a hyena. Recent successful attempts 

 have been made to prove that he discovers his food by 

 the sense of smell as well as by keen sight. Carrion 

 has been hidden under a dense growth of brush where it 

 could not be seen, and the Vultures have found it quite 

 as readily as when exposed to view. 



The nesting season of this Vulture in California begins 

 about April 15, the eggs being laid in a depression in 

 the ground under a ledge, or on a steep hillside, or in 

 the cavity of a tall stump, or in a tree. The young are 

 fed by regurgitation, and remain in the nest nine weeks. 

 Except at nesting season, this Vulture is gregarious, fly- 

 ing and feeding in company and roosting in great num- 

 bers in favorite groves. On the wing it is graceful and 

 impressive, moving in great circles apparently without 

 eifort and without fatigue. One can scarcely look up to 

 the hills without seeing it, and it comes to be as much 

 a part of California scenery as the mountains or the sea. 



