296 POULTRY AND WILD BIRDS 
325. Turkey Vulture. Turkey Buzzard. Length 30 inches. 
About the size and appearance of a turkey; but looks more ugly, the 
head and neck being unfeathered and blood-red. ‘‘ Distance lends en- 
chantment,” however, and when 
seen soaring high above you its easy 
flight is grace itself. S.R. 
Hawk Family. — The low form of 
the head and the way it is feathered, 
the way the eyes are set, and the 
hooked bill give these birds a charac- 
teristic and fierce expression. They 
grasp their prey with their talons 
and use their curved bill to tear it 
to pieces. They feed chiefly upon 
gophers, field mice, and grasshoppers 
and thus render a great service in 
clearing the land of these pests. 
There are only a few species, 
namely: the Cooper hawk, the 
sharp-shinned hawk, the goshawk, and the eagles, that care for wild 
birds and poultry, and in many sections these are never seen; but they 
have given the whole family a bad reputation. 
TURKEY VULTURE 
331 Marsh Hawk. Length, male, 19 inches; female, 22 inches. 
A large, light-colored hawk easily identified by its white rump, which 
is especially conspicuous in flight. Wings quite dark, rest of upper parts 
MarsH Hawk SHARP-SHINNED Hawk 
