Open Nests in Woods, Thickets, Swampy Thickets 



being much the smallest of our native doves. As its name im- 

 plies, it spends the greater part of its time on the ground, where 

 it may be seen moving its head, while walking or running, after 

 the habit of the domestic pigeon. 



The nests are usually near cultivated land, frequently in 

 abandoned gardens or yards, and though the ground is perhaps 

 the favourite place for building, yet bushes, trees, or even tree 

 stumps are sometimes chosen. The breeding season lasts from 

 April to July ; eggs have been taken as late as October, but this 

 is probably quite exceptional. 



322. Quail Dove ; Geotrygon martinica (Linn). 

 Eggs white or buffy white. 



See Page 1^3, Chapter Vfll. 



325. Turkey Vulture; Turkey Buzzard: Cathartes aura 



(Linn.) 



AduU—Bhck tinged with brown ; head and neck red, bare of 



feathers. Length — About 30.00. 

 Breeding Range — From New Jersey southward ; accidental in New 



England. 



The eggs are laid inside a hollow log or stump, or on the 

 ground, often beneath palmetto or small bushes in fairly open 

 places, or among rocks; the eggs are yellowish or grayish white, 

 splashed with chocolate and black, chiefly at the larger end ; the 

 number varies from i to 4. Size — 2.75 x 1.90. See Fig. i, Plate A. 



These birds, so graceful in flight yet so awkward when on 

 the ground, are perhaps the most useful of the southern birds ; 

 as they, with their near relatives, the black vultures, are the scav- 

 engers that leave no track or trace of anything that might pollute 

 the air. The question, on which so much has been written and 

 which has, 1 believe, never been satisfactorily decided, is whether 

 it is by the sense of smell or sight that these birds discover the 

 whereabouts of food ; that their sight is wonderful must be ad- 

 mitted, while their power of smelling does not appear to be at all 

 remarkable. It is scarcely possible that a bird flying at a height 

 that renders him scarcely visible to the naked eye, and which 



57 



