THE TURKEY BUZZARD. 
19 
by thrusting a red-hot poker into water ; and frequently a snuffling, like a dog clearing his 
nostrils, as I suppose they were theirs. On observing that they did not heed me, I stole so 
close that my feet were within one yard of the horse’ s legs, and again sat down. They all slid 
aloof a few feet ; but seeing me quiet, they soon returned as before. As they were often dis- 
turbed by the dogs, I ordered the latter home ; my voice gave no alarm to the V ultures. 
As soon as the dogs departed, the Vultures crowded in such numbers that I counted at 
one time thirty-seven on and around the carcass, with several within ; so that scarcely an inch 
of it was visible. Sometimes one would come out with a large piece of the intestines, which 
in a moment was surrounded by several others, who tore it to fragments, and it soon dis- 
appeared. They kept up the hissing occasionally. Some of them, having their legs and 
heads covered with blood, presented a most savage aspect. Still as the dogs advanced, I would 
order them away, which seemed to gratify the V ultures ; and one would pursue another to 
within a foot or two of the spot where I was sitting. Sometimes I observed them stretching 
their necks along the ground, as if to press the food downwards.” 
The Zopilote is rather a familiar bird, and may often be seen marching about the streets 
in the towns and villages of the Southern States, where it might be easily mistaken for a 
domestic turkey by a new arriver in the country. By the inhabitants it is popularly called 
the carrion crow, a confusion of nomenclature which has sometimes led to strange misappre- 
hension of corvine habits. As the birds, although personally disliked, are so useful to the 
community, they are protected by common consent, and permitted to roam the streets or prowl 
among the houses at will. 
The Carrion Crow ( Catharista atrata ), so called, as well as Black Vulture, is a coal black 
bird of about the size of the Turkey Buzzard. Only one species of this genus is known, and 
this is confined to the tropical portions of North America. It is found most commonly on the 
Atlantic sea-board. On the Pacific side it is not known. In the West India Islands this bird 
is quite common, having the same habits as the Turkey Buzzard. 
In Charleston, S. C., and Savannah, the Carrion Crow is very common, associated with 
the Turkey Buzzard. Both are well known for their beneficial habits as scavengers. 
Another species, of the genus Cathartes, is the Turkey Buzzard, more rightly termed 
the Carrion Vulture. Its name of Turkey Buzzard is earned from the strange resemblance 
which a Carrion Vulture bears to a turkey, as it walks slowly and with a dignified air, stretch- 
ing its lohg bare neck, and exhibiting the fleshy appendages which bear some likeness to the 
wattles of the turkey. Indeed, instances are not wanting, where recent visitors to the country 
have actually shot these birds, thinking that they had succeeded in killing a veritable edible 
turkey. This bird is chiefly found in North America, but is also an inhabitant of Jamaica, 
where it is popularly known as the John crow. 
According to Waterton and Darwin, the Turkey Buzzard is not so sociable a bird as the 
zopilote ; for although a little flock of twenty or thirty may be seen together in a corn-field 
where the refuse stubble has been burned, engaged in feeding on the dead mice, lizards, moles, 
and other creatures which have perished in the conflagration, each bird comes separately and 
departs separately, no two individuals having any connection with each other. 
When gorged with food, an event which always takes place whenever there is the least 
opportunity, the Turkey Buzzard leaves reluctantly the scene of the banquet, and gaining with 
some difficulty a branch of a neighboring tree, sits heavy and listless, its head sunk upon its 
breast, and its wings hanging half open, as if the bird were too lazy even to keep those mem- 
bers closed. The object of this curious attitude seems to be, that the bird may gain as much 
air as possible, for these feathered creatures are singularly susceptible to atmospheric influence. 
It is not improbable that this air-bath may aid the bird in digesting the food which it has so 
ravenously consumed, as well as to cleanse its feathers from the fetid animal substance which 
cannot but cling to them after their strong-scented repasts. While engaged in eating they are 
not at all particular about soiling their feathers, for they will often tear a hole in the skin of a 
dead animal, and deliberately walk into its interior, for the purpose of getting at some favorite 
