THE CALIFORNIA VULTURE. 161 



ilar to that of the common Turkey Vulture, and that as a rule they make 

 but little of a nest, usually laying their eggs on rubbish on the ground found 

 in the immediate vicinity of the nesting site, alongside or in a hollow log, or 

 in crevices of rocky cliffs. It is possible that at times they make use of the 

 abandoned nests of the Golden Eagles, which are common in that part of 

 California, and the nest described to Mr. Flint as being placed in a large red- 

 wood tree in the Santa Cruz Mountains was probably such an one, and was 

 made use of by the Vultures after being abandoned by the Eagles. 



I have only seen two eggs of this species, both taken by Dr. C. S. Can- 

 field, near San Rafael, California. One of these, No. 9983, is now in the 

 U. S. National Museum collection; the other I saw in the collection of the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1880, but it 

 has since disappeared. Both of these eggs were of a uniform light grayish- 

 green color and unspotted. The shell of the specimen now before me is 

 close grained and deeply pitted, differing in this respect from the eggs of 

 other Vultures, and is, like those, slightly glossy. It is elongate ovate in 

 shape, and as figured on PI. 4, Fig. 5; it measures 114 by 65 millimetres. 

 The late Dr. T. M. Brewer described this specimen as of a uniform pale 

 greenish blue, almost an ashy greenish white. 



58. Cathartes aura (Linnaeus). 



TURKEY VULTURE. 



Vultur aura Linnaeus, Systema Naturae, ed. 10, 1, 1758, 86. 

 Cathartes aura Spix, Avium Brasiliam, 1, 1825, 2. 



(B 1, C 365, R 454, C 537, U 325.) 



Geographical range : Nearly the whole of temperate and tropical America, 

 including West Indies ; south to Falkland Islands and Patagonia ; north, more or 

 less regularly, to southern New England, New York, Saskatchewan, and British 

 Columbia. 



The breeding range of the Turkey Vulture, more commonly known as 

 the Turkey Buzzard, includes the greater portion of the United States, with 

 the exception of the higher mountain regions of the interior, and of New York 

 and the New England States, where it only occurs as a straggler at rare inter- 

 vals. An occasional pair may breed in the extreme southern part of Long 

 Island, specimens having been observed there on repeated occasions within 

 recent years during the summer months. It is quite common throughout 

 the South, gradually becoming rarer as it advances northward. East of the 

 Rocky Mountains it is resident throughout the year from about latitude 39° 

 southward; while on the Pacific coast it winters as far north as latitude 46°, 

 near the mouth of the Columbia River. 



North of our boundary, Mr. Ernest E. Thompson reports it as common 

 in the Assiniboine Valley, Manitoba; and Dr. Richardson found them late in 

 26957— Bull. 1 11 



