TURKEY VULTURE. 129 
all over with chocolate, mingled with blackish touches, the 
blotches largest and thickest towards the great end ; the form 
something like the egg of a goose, but blunter at the small 
end; leneth, two inches and three-quarters ; breadth, two inches. 
The male watches often while the female is sitting ; and, if 
not disturbed, they will occupy the same breeding-place for 
several years. The young are clothed with a whitish down, 
similar to that which covers young goslings. If any person 
approach the nest and attempt to handle them, they will im- 
mediately vomit such offensive matter, as to compel the in- 
truder to a precipitate retreat. 
The turkey buzzards are gregarious, peaceable, and harmless, 
never offering any violence to a living animal, or, like the plun- 
derers of the Falco tribe, depriving the husbandman of his 
stock. Hence, though, in consequence of their filthy habits, 
they are not beloved, yet they are respected for their useful- 
ness; and in the southern States, where they are most needed, 
they, as well as the black vultures, are protected by a law which 
imposes a fine on those who wilfully deprive them of life. 
They generally roost in flocks, on the limbs of large trees ; and 
they may be seen on a summer morning, spreading out their 
wings to the rising sun, and remaining in that posture for a con- 
siderable time. Pennant conjectures that this is “to purify 
their bodies, which are most offensively fetid.’ But is it 
reasonable to suppose that that effluvia can be offensive to 
them which arises from food perfectly adapted to their nature, 
and which is constantly the object of their desires? Many 
birds, and particularly those of the granivorous kind, have a 
similar habit, which doubtless is attended with the same exhil- 
arating effects as an exposure to the pure air of the morning 
has on the frame of one just risen from repose. 
These birds, unless when rising from the earth, seldom flap 
their wings, but sweep along in ogees, and dipping and rising 
lines, and move with great rapidity. They are often seen in 
companies, soaring at an immense height, particularly previous 
to a thunderstorm. Their wings are not spread horizontally, 
VOL, IL. z 
