HOME OF THE TURKEY BUZZARD 



ii 



111 it of Stone Mountain, a queer granite 

 formation in Georgia, rising three- 

 quarters of a mile out of an almost 

 level plain, I watched buzzards sail- 

 ing over one mile high, making them 

 approximately two miles from the earth. 

 The flight is majestic, and the long, 

 steady, circling sweeps being so closely 

 allied to those of the eagle, it is very 

 hard to determine the identity of the 

 bird without glasses. 



As in many other mountains there 

 was a buzzard's roost on Stone Moun- 

 tain. It was situated about half way 

 up the steep side of the mountain, which 

 was in the shape of a half dome split in 

 twain. By careful work I approached 

 within three hundred feet of this roost- 

 ing place. 



While the turkey buzzard is solitary 

 in its movements this inaccessible 

 steep brought quite a number of them 



together, and one spring I counted 

 four different nests to be seen from 

 my perch. The nests were rude struc- 

 tures, most of them built upon the 

 stone. They contained from four to 

 six eggs each. Further down the 

 mountain I found another nest in a hol- 

 low tree. There were no sticks under 

 the eggs, simply a rude sort of depres- 

 sion, evidently hollowed out by the' 

 mother bird. Two eggs had been de- 

 posited in it, the eggs being creamy 

 white with large, irregular brown 

 splotches, converging toward the larger 

 end. The little ones hatched toward the 

 latter part of May ; and no one having 

 knowledge of their parents' habits could 

 for a moment suspect that the fluffy lit- 

 tle creatures, covered with white down, 

 were associated, in any way, with such 

 repugnant ancestors. When touched, 

 however, all liking for the little birds 



Fluffy Utile creatures covered with white down 



