NOTES AND QUERIES. 109 



My curiosity being aroused, I crossed the field to investigate the 

 matter. On reaching the spot I was surprised to find it was a Turkey 

 Buzzard (Cathartes aura) squatted on the ground and unable to rise, and 

 I discovered it was in a semi-paralytic condition. I carried it home 

 and placed it in an outhouse, where it remained for several days more, 

 when, finding it did not recover, I killed it. On removing the skin I 

 could find no injury, though there were several pellets of dust-shot 

 just under the skin, but nothing to account for the helpless condition 

 of the bird. The whole body and the intestines were covered with fat 

 to a surprising degree. On opening the stomach I found inside it a 

 very small revolver or pea-rifle bullet which had been flattened by 

 striking against some hard object. There was no perceptible wound 

 nor any inflammation of the coats of the stomach, which had nothing 

 else in it but a small quantity of dark green fluid. I imagine the bird 

 had swallowed the bullet when devouring some dead animal, probably 

 a "Squirrel" (Spermophilus grammurus), a most destructive rodent 

 existing in vast numbers all over California, notwithstanding that 

 every man's hand is against it. The farmers' boys constantly practise 

 with pea-rifles at these " Squirrels," and they are also destroyed 

 wholesale by the use of strychnine on most of the large ranches. 

 Possibly the Turkey Buzzard had swallowed some of this poison, 

 which has led to the almost complete extermination of the noble 

 Californian Condor (Pseudogryphus californianus) in Santa Barbara 

 County. The carcases of dead Sheep were poisoned to destroy 

 Coyotes, but were eaten by the Condors. The great length of time — 

 over a week — the unfortunate Turkey Buzzard lived without feeding 

 struck me as strange, though I have known hens, when sick, live for a 

 long time, although refusing food. — W. S. M. D'Ukban (Newport 

 House, near Exeter). 



