ZOOLOGY. 129 
will shield it from a vulture, though not from the grizzly bear, 
who little respects such flimsy protection. My coat, used on 
one occasion to cover a deer, was found on our return torn by 
bruin to shreds, and the game destroyed. The Californian 
vulture joins to his rapacity an immense muscular power, as a 
sample of which it will suffice to state that I have known four 
of them, jointly, to drag off, over a space of two hundred 
yards, the body of a young grizzly bear weighing upward of 
one hundred pounds.” 
The turkey-buzzard, or turkey-vulture (Cathartes aura), 
specifically the same with the bird known by that name in 
the Atlantic states, is found in all parts of California. From 
the tip of the bill to the end of the tail it is about thirty inches 
long, and six feet from tip to tip of the outstretched wings. 
The head and neck are bare, covered with a bright-red wrin- 
kled skin. The plumage commences below that, with a circu- 
lar ruff of projecting feathers. The color of the plumage is 
black, with a purplish lustre, many of the feathers having a 
pale border. The bill is yellowish in color. , 
§ 97. The Hagle Family—tThe golden eagle (Aquila can- 
adensis) inhabits California, and indeed all parts of North 
America. Its length is thirty or forty inches; its color on the 
head and neck is yellowish brown, white at the base of the 
of the tail, and brown, varying to purplish brown, and black 
elsewhere. ; 
The bald eagle (Halicetus leucocephalos) was abundant in 
California ten years ago, and is still often seen along the Sac- 
ramento, San Joaquin, and Klamath Rivers. It frequents rap- 
ids for the purpose of catching fish, which seem .to furnish 
the larger part of its food. It is from thirty to forty inches 
long, white on the head and at the base of the tail, and brown- 
ish black on the breast, wings, and back. 
The fish-hawk (Pandion carolinensis) is found along all our 
large rivers. It is from twenty to twenty-five inches long. The 
head and under parts are white, with pale yellowish-brown spots 
on the breast. The back, wings, and tail are dark brown. 
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