VULTURES 127 



AMERICAN VULTURES: Family Cathartidae. 



TURKEY VULTURE; TURKEY BUZZARD: CathaHes 

 aura septentrionalis Wied. 



State records. — The turkey buzzard is a common and gen- 

 erally distributed bird over the whole State. On the coast 

 it seems to be slightly less common than in the interior. Being 

 nonmigratory, it is equally numerous at all seasons. 



The breeding season begins in March and the nests are 

 located in hollow trees or logs, and in caves and crevices of 

 cliffs. Eggs have been found at Prattville, March 31, 1894 ; 

 Autaugaville, April 11, 1909 ; Leighton, April 18 and 29, and 

 May 7 and 15 ; and at Florence, May 7, 1912, A pair of downy 

 young were found at Guntersville, June 18, 1913. 



General habits. — This great bird, ugly and repulsive on the 

 ground, when soaring in graceful circles in the blue ether is an 

 attractive object and one of the most characteristic sights of 

 the Southern landscape. It is well known as a scavenger and 

 has until recent years been considered a beneficial species by 

 reason of its destruction of carcasses. It is now, however, 

 accused of aiding the spread of hog cholera, and as a result 

 has come imder the ban of man's disapproval, even to the ex- 

 tent in most of the Southern States of being denied the pro- 

 tection of the law. There is no evidence, however, that the 

 buzzard actually does spread this disease and certain experi- 

 ments carried on by the Bureau of Animal Industry with 

 pigeons and infected pigs indicate that the virus of hog 

 cholera is probably not disseminated by being carried on the 

 feet or feathers of birds.* Furthermore, it has been shown 

 by the State Board of Health of Florida that "the virus of 

 hog cholera is digested in the intestinal tract of buzzards and 

 that the droppings of buzzards fed on the flesh of hogs dead 

 from cholera do not produce cholera when mixed in the feed 

 of hogs."t 



Turkey buzzards discover their food by a vei-y keen sense 

 of smell, aided also by the sense of sight. They roost usually 

 in companies on dead trees in a sheltered part of the woods, 



•Ann. Kept. Chief Bur. Anlm. Ind., U. S. Dcpt. Agr., p. 48, 1917. 



tmh AjuI. K^t. State Board of Heahh of Florida, 1914, p. 204, (1915). 



