THE 



OOLOGjST'S JOcU^b. 



t)ev>ofe;a fo Oology, ©KnitMos^ dno Tc^ioe^y. 



Vol II. 



POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y., JAN.— FEB 1892. 



No. 1 



TURKEY VULTURE. 



One of our commonest Birds and 

 a constant resident. Hardly a day 

 passes that its great figure may 

 not be seen silently circling 

 through the air with motionless 

 wings, ever intently scanning the 

 ground beneath for its accustomed 

 food. Often have I watched 

 them on a clear day circling round 

 and round and mounting higher 

 and higher in apparently ever nar- 

 rowing circles, until they become 

 a mere speck against the sky, and 

 finally disapearing in the highest 

 regions of the atmosphere. But 

 from being a bird of such grand 

 and lofty flight, it descends to the 

 most degraded of earthly associa- 

 tions. 



Its habits and maimer of life 

 are so well known that I will not 

 speak of them here, but its nest- 

 ing habits may not be so familiar 

 to all, so will speak briefly of 

 them and pass on to the next 

 species. It makes no nest but 

 deposits its two eggs in a hol- 

 low stump, or on the ground be- 

 tween old logs, usually however 

 in crevices of bluff in this locality. 



In the latter situation I have 

 several times found its eggs, and 

 on one occasion, the young. 



The eggs are about the size 

 and shape of Turkeys' eggs and 

 are quite handsome, of a white 

 ground color, spotted with large 

 blotches of two shades of brown- 

 ish and obscure shell markings. 

 The two eggs laid are widely differ- 

 ent in coloration, one being heavily 

 and the other lightly marked. The 

 young are covered with white 

 down and are very ugly, having 

 bald heads and most woebegone 

 expressions. When disturbed in 

 the nest they keep up a continual 

 hissing or blowing sound. The 

 Buzzard is resident from about 

 latitude 40° southward. 



F. W. McCokmack, 



Leighton, Ala. 



