TURKEY BUZZARD 



WIDELY distriljuted over temperate and tropical America, the 

 turkey vulture — or, as it is more commonly called, turkey liuz- 

 zard — is a familiar bird in many parts of the South, where it may 

 be seen gravely stalking about in search of food or gracefully soaring 

 in wide circles overhead. 



As Bendire has written: "They look their best aloft as their flight is 

 exceedingly easy and graceful, while the apparent absence of all effort as 

 they sail in stately manner overhead, in ever changing circles, and with- 

 out any apparent movement of their well shaped wings, makes them 

 really attractive objects to watch; but let them once descend to the 

 ground or alight in a tree, and attractiveness ceases; now they are any- 

 thing but prepossessing, and it requires no effort to place them where 

 they properly belong — among the scavengers of the soil. 



Once looked upon as a useful scavenger, and protected by law and 

 custom, it is now regarded with suspicion, or even looked upon as an 

 undesirable citizen, on account of its spreading hog cholera as a result of 

 feeding on carrion. 



The locality shown is Hummer's Island, in the Potomac, just above 

 Washington, looking up the river toward a stretch of rapids known 

 as Stubblefield Falls. This island is the headcjuarters of the Washing- 

 ton Field Naturalists' Club, a small and select organization that includes 

 many of our best known naturalists, and is their favorite week-end 

 resort. 



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