82 OUR SOUTHERN BIRDS 



devoted lovers and of a domestic faithfulness 

 that is admirable. The nest of the Purple 

 Grackle is built in the treetops, usually in a 

 neighborhood of dozens of such nests. It is made 

 of sticks, bark, and grasses, interwoven instead 

 of being loosely laid like the Crow's, and lined 

 with mud. The eggs vary greatly in color and 

 markings. 



TURKEY BUZZAED 



Over all the country the Vultures are given 

 credit for their good w r ork as scavengers. No- 

 body is allowed by law to molest them, and no- 

 body wishes to do so. Every one realizes that a 

 Vulture is worth more living than dead. The 

 birds seem to know of this widespread public 

 sentiment in their favor, and in many Southern 

 towns will come into the very streets to feed. 



The soaring and circling of these birds is a 

 conspicuous feature of the Southern landscape. 

 A more lofty and perfect expression of the 

 poetry of motion is hard to imagine, short of 

 the wheeling of spheres in the planetary system. 

 They seem to circle slowly round some invisible 

 aerial center, without apparent motion of the 

 large outspread wings, upheld by some mighty 

 natural force and impelled and guided only by 

 wish or will. Such effortless grace, such ample, 

 free, deliberate progression is hardly found else- 



