The Turkey Vulture 



the same stench is en- 

 tangled in the web of the 

 feathers. It is retained 

 for a long while even 

 after the bird is killed 

 and stuffed. So strong 

 is it that one author, 

 an excellent naturalist, 

 too, fancied it must be 

 rather unpleasant to the 

 birds themselves." Since 

 the birds, therefore, reek 

 with filth, they are not 

 in a position to exercise 

 discrimination with ref- 

 erence to external scents. 



On the other hand, 

 Dr. Joseph Grinnell cites 

 repeated instances 1 in 

 which Turkey Vultures, 

 apparently guided by 

 the sense of smell, have 

 found concealed bait in- 

 tended for mammals. Of 

 his work in the lower 

 valley of the Colorado 

 Dr. Grinnell says: 2 "We 

 were continually both- 

 ered in our mammal 

 trapping by these birds. 

 Wherever meat bait was 

 used and the steel traps 

 left out during the day 

 unsprung, no matter 

 how far back under thick bushes these were placed, and so concealing 

 the setting from view, the turkey buzzards were almost certain to get 

 caught. Fully two dozen were thus captured, and, being seldom severely 

 injured, were usually released." The question is, therefore, still open 

 to debate. 



Turkey Vultures are indefatigable gleaners and scavengers, and as 



1,1 An Account of the Birds and Mammals of the San Jacinto Area of Southern California," by J. Grinnell and 

 H. S. Swarth. U. of C Pub. in Zool. Vol. 10. No. 10. pp. 234, 235. 



: "An Account of the Mammals and Birds of the Lower Colorado Valley," by Joseph Grinnell, U. of C Pub. 

 in Zool., Vol. 12, No. 4. p. 123 (1014). 



1741 



Taken near Santa Barbara 



SOMETHING DOING 



TURKEY VULTURES ARE NOT OFTEN FOUND IN SUCH LARGE COMPANIES 



Photo by the Author 



