12 TURKEY VULTURE. 



to the purpose. The female is at no pains to form a nest with materials ; 

 but having chosen a suitable place, which is either a truncated hollow 

 tree, or an excavated stump or log, she lays on the rotten wood from 

 two to four eggs, of a dull dirty white, splashed all over with chocolate, 

 mingled with blackish touches, the blotches largest and thickest towards 

 the great end ; the form somewhat like the egg of a goose, but blunter 

 at the small end ; length two inches and three quarters, breadth two 

 inches. The male watches often while the female is sitting ; and if not 

 disturbed they will occupy the same breeding place for several years. 

 The young are clothed with a whitish down, similar to that which covers 

 youno- goslings. If any person approach the nest, and attempt to han- 

 dle them, they will immediately vomit such offensive matter, as to compel 

 the intruder to a precipitate retreat. 



The Turkey-buzzards are gregarious, peaceable, and harmless ; never 

 offering any violence to a living animal, or, like the plunderers of the 

 Falco tribe, depriving the husbandman of his stock. Hence, though in 

 consequence of their filthy habits they are not beloved, yet they are 

 respected for their usefulness ; and in the southern states, where they 

 are most needed, they, as. well as the black vultures, are protected by a 

 law, which imposes a fine on those who wilfully deprive them of life. In 

 the middle and northern states, being unprotected by law, these useful 

 birds are exposed to persecution, and, consequently, they avoid the 

 residence of man. They generally roost in flocks, upon the limbs of 

 large trees ; and they may be seen in a summer's morning, spreading 

 out their wings to the rising sun, and remaining in that posture for a 

 considerable time. Pennant conjectures that this is " to purify their 

 bodies, which are most offensively fetid." But is it reasonable to sup- 

 pose that that effluvia can be offensive to them, which arises from food 

 perfectly adapted to their nature, and which is constantly the object of 

 their desires ? Many birds, and particularly those of the granivorous 

 kind, have a similar habit, which, doubtless, is attended with the same 

 exhilarating effect, that an exposure to the pure air of the morning has 

 on the frame of one just risen from repose. 



The Turkey-buzzards, unless when rising from the earth, seldom flap 

 their wings, but sweep along in ogees, and dipping and rising lines, and 

 moye with great rapidity. They are often seen in companies, soaring 

 at an immense height, particularly before a thunderstorm. Their wings 

 are not spread horizontally, but form an acute angle with the body, the 

 tips having an upward curve. Their sense of smelling is astonishingly 

 exquisite,* and they never fail to discover carrion, even when at the 



* The British public has lately been amused with the tales of a traveller, on some 

 of the animals of our country. Among several particulars, which force themselves 

 upon the attention of the American reader by their novelty, we are presented with 



