4 BIRDS OF PREY. 



them to the fanning breeze, and become abandoned to its 

 accidental sports. In South America, according to Humboldt, 

 they soar even in company with the Condor in his highest 

 flights, rising above the summits of the tropical Andes. 



Examples of this species still wander occasionally to New Eng- 

 land and to Grand Menan, and in 1887 Mr. Philip Cox reported 

 the capture of two near the mouth of the Miramichi River, on the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence, in latitude 47°. It occurs regularly on the 

 St. Clair Flats, in Ontario. 



The Vultures are not classed as the first of birds by the syste- 

 matists of the present day. Now the singing-birds — the Oscines — 

 arj considered the most highly developed, and of these the Thrush 

 family is given highest rank. The Vultures are classed as the 

 loweL,t of the birds of prey ; and this entire order has been moved 

 down belovif the Swifts and the Woodpeckers. 



BLACK VULTURE. 



carrion crow. 

 Catharista atrata. 



Char. Dull black ; head dusky and partially covered above with 

 feathers. Length .about 2 feet. 



JV^est. On the ground screened by bushes, or in a stump. (No attempt 

 is made to build a nest or even to lay a cushion for the eggs.) 



^Eggs. 1-3 (usually 2) ; bluish white, marked with several shades of 

 brown; 3.10 X 2.05. 



This smaller, black, and truly gregarious species of Vulture 

 in the United States appears to be generally confined to the 

 Southern States, and seems to be most numerous and familiar 

 in the large maritime towns of North and South Carolina, 

 Georgia, and Florida. They are also met with in several of 

 the Western States, and as far up the Ohio as Cincinnati. In 

 the tropical regions of America they are also very common, 

 and extend at least as far as Chili. Like the former species, 

 with which they associate only at meal-times, they are tacitly 

 allowed a public protection for the service they render in rid- 

 ding the earth of carrion and other kinds of filth. They are 



